Sri Lanka's Intelligence Says Sources Warned of Possible Terrorist Attacks This Week

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Sources of Sri Lanka's intelligence services have warned of possible terrorist attacks on July 5 and 6, the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, urging the public to avoid panic as the information is unverified.

The ministry cited a letter sent by the Inspector General of Police to the Defense Secretary concerning intelligence information about a suspected terrorist attack, which is currently circulating on social media, saying that this information was based on unconfirmed data.

"The disclosure of purported terrorist attack that may be carried out on 05th and 06th this month, evoking ‘Black July’, was taken up into consideration based on unconfirmed information received through intelligence sources. These are unverified intelligence information and there is no ground information that would associate the occurrence of such a terrorist attack invoking the ‘Black July’," the statement read.

The Black July riots in July 1983 marked the onset of the Sri Lankan civil war which lasted until 2009. The riots were triggered by the bombing of an army jeep and the killing of 15 soldiers, perpetrated by the members of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

"As maintaining public security and safety is of high priority all measures will be taken to ensure a high degree of security while investigations will be carried into the received intelligence. The Ministry of Defence requests the public not to panic and to carry on with their day to day work," the statement added.

Sri Lanka is now facing a political and economic crisis considered the worst since its gaining independence in 1948. In mid-April, Sri Lanka defaulted on its external debt for an interim period, pending a restructuring of the obligations under an IMF-supported economic adjustment program. The recession is attributed to foreign exchange shortages caused by a clampdown on tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic. It left the country unable to buy enough fuel, with people facing an acute scarcity of food and necessities, heating fuel, and gas. Many regions have power outages.