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Sri Lanka's defence secretary quits following suicide bomb attacks

"While there has been no failure on my own part, I am taking responsibility for failures of some institutions that I head as the secretary of defence," Hemasiri Fernando -- Sri Lankan Defence Secretary -- told reporters on Thursday as announcing his resignation from the cabinet.

Reuters WORLD
Published April 25,2019
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Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando told Reuters on Thursday that he had resigned, taking responsibility for the suicide bomber attacks on the country last Sunday.

He said that while there had been no failure on his own part, he was taking responsibility for failures of some institutions he headed as the secretary of defence.

He said that security agencies were actively responding to intelligence they had about the possibility of attacks before they were launched.

"We were working on that. All those agencies were working on that," he said.

The Easter Sunday bombings on churches and luxury hotels killed at least 359 people and wounded about 500.