Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe (C) arrives to visit the site of a bomb attack at St. Anthony's Shrine in Kochchikade in Colombo on April 21, 2019 AFP

Police chief Pujuth Jayasundara sent an intelligence warning to top officers on April 11 setting out the threat

Sri Lanka's police chief made a nationwide alert 10 days before Sunday's bomb attacks in the country that suicide bombers planned to hit "prominent churches", according to the warning seen by AFP.

Police chief Pujuth Jayasundara sent an intelligence warning to top officers on April 11 setting out the threat.

"A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama'ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo," said the alert.

Sri Lanka’s police chief Pujuth Jayasundara has issued intel alert to top officers 10 days ago, warning that Islamist group NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) will carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches of #Colombo and the Indian high commission. — Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) April 21, 2019

The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that came to notice last year when it was linked to the vandalization of Buddhist statues.

At least 207 people were killed in eight bomb attacks Sunday that included three churches.



