Lanka ends emergency 4 months after Easter attacks
Sri Lanka has ended a four-month state of emergency declared after Easter suicide bombings by Islamist extremists that killed 258 people, officials said yesterday. President Maithripala Sirisena has been extending the emergency on the 22nd of each month since the April 21 attacks on three hotels and three churches. However, his office confirmed that Sirisena had not extended it for another term and thereby allowed the emergency to end on Thursday. "The president did not issue a fresh proclamation extending the emergency by a further period," an official source said. The official government printer also confirmed that there was no notification reimposing the state of emergency, which gives sweeping powers to police and security forces to arrest and detain suspects for long periods.
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