RayKalm
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Sri Lanka's government was "aware of information regarding a possible attack" before a series of deadly bomb blasts rocked hotels and churches in the capital Colombo and two other cities, according to the country's prime minister.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking to reporters late on Sunday, acknowledged that "information was there" about possible attacks.
"We must also look into why adequate precautions were not taken," he said.
The coordinated assaults, which killed at least 207 people and wounded more than 450 others, was the worst violence in the Indian Ocean island nation since its civil war ended a decade ago.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.
A police spokesman said 13 suspects were arrested in connection to the bombings.
Wickremesinghe said "the names that have come up are local", but said investigators will look into whether the attackers had any "overseas links". World leaders offered help in the probe, he added.
Al Jazeera's Minelle Fernandez, reporting from Colombo, described the prime minister's statement "as a dig" at President Maithripala Sirisena, who heads the security forces.
Ties between the two leaders are at an all-time low following Sirisena's sacking of Wickremesinghe in October. The move triggered a weeks-long political crisis that ended only when the Supreme Court overturned that decision.
'Turbulent relationship'
Fernandez said Wickremesinghe's statement on receiving warning "reflects the rather turbulent relationship between the two leaders" following October's constitutional crisis.
"The president retained charge of the police, but the prime minister said neither he nor his ministers had been informed of this information that was available," she said.
For his part, Sirisena earlier on Sunday said he ordered a special police task force and the military to investigate who was behind the attacks and their agenda.
A relative of a victim of the explosion at St. Anthony's Shrine, mourns at the police mortuary in Colombo
The government declared a curfew in Colombo and blocked access to social media messaging sites, including Facebook and WhatsApp. The military was deployed and security was stepped up at the Colombo international airport.
Ruwan Wijewardena, Sri Lanka's defence minister, described the bombings as a "terrorist attack" by religious groups.
"We believe these were coordinated attacks, and one group was behind them," he said. Most of the explosions were believed to have been suicide attacks.
Six nearly simultaneous blasts took place in the morning in Colombo at St Anthony's Shrine, just as church services began, and the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La and Kingsbury hotels. The powerful explosions collapsed ceilings and blew out windows, killing worshippers and hotel guests in one scene after another of smoke, blood, broken glass, screams and wailing alarms.
Victims were carried out of blood-spattered pews.
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This could possibly be the April attacks that Pakistan was referring to when they said an attack will come from India. Sri Lanka accepted a Pakistani forensic team, hinting that Pakistan may have told Sri Lanka beforehand.
