Railway trade unions launched a 48-hour token strike from midnight yesterday after their discussions with Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera failed.

Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath (SLTJ) President A. K. Hisham said yesterday he had informed intelligence officers that the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday attacks Zahran Hashim had come to Akkaraipattu in a Prado a month prior to when the attacks took place.

Ceylon Thowheed Jamaath (CTJ) General Secretary Abdul Razik, testifying before the Parliament Select Committee yesterday revealed that they had met intelligence officials in 2016 and had alerted them of Zahran Hashim’s preaching’s which they felt were veering on extremism and calling for the murder of non-Muslims.

Sri Lanka’s main prosecutor directed the acting police chief to carry out an investigation into nine officers who are suspected of failing to help prevent the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people, a document showed.

The Sri Lanka terrorist attacks were organized by the militants of the Islamic State formerly active in Syria and Iraq, Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Yuri Kokov said at the Tenth International Meeting of High-Level Representatives on Security Issues in the Russian city of Ufa.

Indian intelligence reports have warned that Sri Lanka and India are likely to be under threat with terror group ISIS turning its attention to the Indian Ocean Region in the wake of losses across Syria and Iraq, reports Indian media.

President Maithripala Sirisena on Tuesday said the country will never head in the wrong direction if the state’s leaders act on the advice and guidance of the Mahasangha.

The Australian Federal Police sent more than 20 officers to Sri Lanka in the wake of the deadly Easter Sunday bombings in one of the agency’s largest overseas deployments in recent years.

Sri Lanka’s economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly a year from January to March, before the Easter Sunday bomb attacks on April 21 killed over 250 people, crushing the island’s tourism sector.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will not travel to Sri Lanka as previously announced due to unavoidable scheduling conflicts during his upcoming visit to the Indo-Pacific region.

A drug trafficker was arrested by the STF with 1.2 kgs of heroin worth over Rs.7 million in possession at Katubedda Junction in Ratmalana yesterday.

UNP Parliamentarians Kabir Hashim and Abdul Haleem have sworn into the ministerial positions held by them before tendering their resignations, according to the Presidential media unit.

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by President Maithripala Sirisena, in his capacity as the Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment, to ban the import of chainsaws to Sri Lanka, the Department of Government Information said.

The Special High Court today allowed former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to stay in Singapore till July 24 following the heart surgery he underwent there.

Five persons died and 12 were injured in a motor accident in Kolakanawaadiya along the Batticaloa – Welikanda road.