On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related terrorist suicide bombings.

On 12 January 2023, The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled that the then-incumbent president Maithripala Sirisena and several other government authorities at the time failed to act on intelligence, and were ordered to pay compensation to victims.

[38] During the 2010s, a low but persisting number of attacks and threats were made against Christian congregations and individuals, as well as other religious minorities, by local monks, although they may or may not be actual members of the Buddhist clergy.

[50][51] Vice president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka Hilmy Ahamed had said about three years ago he warned military intelligence officials about the National Thowheeth Jama'ath, saying "targeting the non-Muslim community is something they encourage – they say you have to kill them in the name of religion".

[53][54][55] The first public disclosure regarding the call made by Indian intelligence agencies on the day of the attack was brought to light by Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, then Director General of the Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka (INSSSL), during a 2021 interview with Chamuditha Samarawickrama.

[56] The New York Times and AFP reported on a police chief warning security officials in an advisory ten days before the attacks of a threat to prominent churches from a radical Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama'ath.

[57] No information in this regard had been passed to the senior politicians of the country;[58][59] Minister Harin Fernando then tweeted images of an internal memo and report by the police intelligence of a terror attack planned by the founder of National Thowheeth Jama’ath, Mohammed Zahran.

This MTF was a confidential document intended exclusively for the President's review..[65] Christians were attending Easter Sunday services when the bombings took place, targeting churches and hotels around Sri Lanka.

[92] On 22 April, the Special Task Force (STF), the elite counter-terrorism unit of the Sri Lanka Police, located a van belonging to the attackers near St. Anthony's Shrine, the site of one of the prior day's blasts.

[94] On 25 April, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) released names and photos of six suspects wanted in connection over the Easter Sunday bombings, seeking public assistance.

[120] On 26 April, the Sri Lanka Army and the STF carried out a search operation in Sainthamaruthu where three explosions and a shootout occurred when they attempted to raid a suspected hideout following a tip-off.

[f] Another search operation in Sammanthurai based on information received by the State Intelligence Service led to a house where a stock of more than 150 gelignite sticks, IS uniforms and flags, 100,000 metal balls, a drone, a van and a laptop were discovered.

[149][150] On 24 April 2019, a Sri Lankan MP Ashu Marasinghe called for both burqa and niqab to be banned from the country and proposed that a bill be passed in the Parliament during a local parliamentary session in wake of the attacks.

However, the investigation had stopped after the arrest of the head of the TID, DIG Nalaka de Silva in September 2018, on allegations of attempting to assassinate President Sirisena, which ignited the 2018 constitutional crisis.

"The Parliament Select Committee report makes recommendations against the former President, former inspector general of police, former defence secretary, former chief of intelligence and other top-level officials, for not having prevented the attacks.

[183] Investigators believe the bombs were made of acetone peroxide, and are looking into training camps that had been hidden on a remote compound near Wanathavilluwa, on the west coast of the country, and possible links to overseas jihadist networks.

[195] On 29 March 2020, the main suspect who was also the mastermind behind the Easter bombing in the Zion Church was arrested by police in Mount Lavinia during the curfew imposed to handle the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

[206] Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne confirmed that all of the bombers were Sri Lankan citizens associated with National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ), a local militant radical Islamist group, but foreign links are suspected.

[226] The Times reported that security agencies believe that Hashim might have travelled to Syria where he was trained and developed links with British ISIL members like Jihadi John and Junaid Hussain.

The President lacks jurisdiction to dismiss the IGP, as he was appointed by a decision by the Constitutional Council and can only be removed by a motion passed in Parliament pursuant to the Public Officers (Procedure) Act, which requires the precise circumstances of the charges and/or allegations against him to be detailed and presented.

[249] On 2 July, the former police chief along with the former defence official were arrested according to the order by the President and the current Attorney General Dappula de Livera over the alleged security lapses which lead to the attacks.

[citation needed] Sisira Mendis, Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) resigned citing health reasons, on 8 June 2019, days after giving testimony that the Parliamentary Select Committee to inquire into the Easter bombings which had outraged President Sirisena.

[257] In early June, in a leaked confidential assessment of the economic damage by the Easter Sunday attacks, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka claimed that the loss of government revenue from indirect tax such as VAT was approximately Rupees 26 billion for the year.

[261][262] Government Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka called for the Batticaloa Campus and Islamic study centres in Beruwala, Maharagama, Trincomalee and Addalachchenai to be brought under the control and supervision of the University Grants Commission and the Education Ministry.

[citation needed] The Ministry for Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs has proposed the Madrasa Education Regulatory Act to establish a Board under the Ministry for "regulation, registration, supervision, control and development of education within Madrasas in Sri Lanka"[269] Minister of Home Affairs Vajira Abeywardena stated that legislation introduced between 2010 and 2015 has "given effect to aspects of Sharia law or Islamic law" with non-governmental organisations registering under these.

"[281] On 28 April 2019 a public litigation activist, Nagananda Kodituwakku, stated that the negligence leading to the attack is in violation of the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code and has filed a Fundamental Rights petition directing the Attorney General to institute criminal action against the country's senior political, civil and security officials, including President Maithripala Sirisena and former president and MP Mahinda Rajapakse, for their alleged negligence over the Easter Sunday bombings.

[328][329] After the bombings, numerous buildings around the world were illuminated in Sri Lanka's colours, some of which included the Flinders Street railway station in Melbourne,[330] the Opera House in Sydney,[331] the Victoria Bridge in Brisbane,[332] the Finlandia Hall in Helsinki,[333] the Northern Spire Bridge and Penshaw Monument in Sunderland,[334] the Burj Khalifa in Dubai,[335] the Emirates Palace, ADNOC Headquarters, Capital Gate and Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi,[336] the City Hall in Tel Aviv,[337] the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg,[338] and the Sky Tower in Auckland.

[346] Condolences for those affected and condemnations of the attacks were variously offered by the leaders of Anglican,[347] Latter-day Saint,[348] Methodist,[349] Orthodox,[350][351] Evangelical,[352] and Reformed churches,[353] as well as Muslim[354] and Jewish congregations.

[360] Kurunegala District UNP MP Thushara Indunil alleged that as the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had nurtured the NTJ by supporting the setting up of its head office in Colombo.

[369] Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the head of Sri Lanka's Catholic Church, alleged that the massacre wasn't purely the work of a few Islamic extremists but was part of a grand political plot and that the attacks were conducted intentionally to win votes.