'Active planning underway': Sri Lankan officials and US diplomat warn of more attacks

A worker walks past a roof top swimming pool of a hotel as it rains in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Photo / AP

More than a week after a series of bombings on Easter Sunday left more than 250 people dead in Sri Lanka, government officials and a top US diplomat are warning that members of the Isis-linked group behind the attacks may still be at large and planning more strikes.

Rajitha Senaratne, Sri Lanka's Health Minister, told reporters that he and seven other government ministers were warned that they have been identified as targets of possible additional suicide attacks and told to stay home on Sunday and Monday.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz, said the US believes that more attacks may be in the planning stages.

"We certainly have reason to believe that the active attack group has not been fully rendered inactive," Teplitz told Reuters. "We do believe that there is active planning underway."

The bombings on April 21 targeted worshippers at three churches in Negombo, Batticaloa and the capital, Colombo, as well as tourists at three luxury hotels in Colombo. Sri Lankan officials said supporters of a local extremist Islamist group called National Thowfeek Jamaath were behind the attack, which was also claimed by Isis (Islamic State).

In a video released yesterday, Isis' reclusive leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said the bombings in Sri Lanka were "part of the revenge" that the radical group would be taking upon the West. The video marked Baghdadi's first publicised appearance in five years.

Police have arrested scores of people they suspect of having links to the bombings. On Sunday, as police approached a suspected safe house in the eastern coastal town of Sainthamaruthu, a shootout and explosions left 15 people dead, including six children.

During the raid, police rescued the wife and daughter of Zahran Hashim, a fanatical Islamist preacher who was identified as the organiser of the attacks. Hashim died in one of the Easter Sunday bombings.

The attacks have left the country on high alert, and alleged intelligence failures have sparked a political controversy. A rivalry among President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa has been blamed for hindering a government response to foreign intelligence warnings about possible suicide attacks targeting Christians.

Despite the warnings, some signs of normalcy are returning to Sri Lanka.

The Government lifted a nationwide social media ban that was imposed after the bombings, allowing Internet users to return to using sites and apps such as Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp.

In a statement, Sirisena asked the public to act "in a responsible manner" when using the services.