US denies providing intelligence on Easter attacks
Colombo: The US has said that it did not provide Sri Lanka with advance intelligence prior to the Easter Sunday militant attacks that killed over 350 people.
This comes amidst what the Sri Lankan government minister Harsha de Silva said Monday that advance intelligence had been provided by "both India and the United States."
"We had no prior knowledge of these attacks," US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz was quoted as saying by the CNN.
At least four Americans were killed in the attacks. She said, "the Sri Lankan government has admitted lapses in their intelligence gathering and information sharing."
When asked her about de Silva's claim, Teplitz responded, "Well I can't speak for others. I don't know what other sources of information the government of Sri Lanka might have had. I can just tell you that we had no prior knowledge."
Sri Lankan authorities have started an investigation into how warnings about possible attacks were not passed to top ministers.
Nine suicide bombers, including a woman, were involved in the massive Easter Sunday bombings and 60 people have been arrested so far for their suspected links to Sri Lanka's worst terror attack that killed at least 359 people.
Suicide bombers, believed to be members of local Islamist extremist group, carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Sunday.
Though the National Tawheed Jamath (NJT) blamed by the Sri Lankan government has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, the Islamic State said the bombers owing allegiance to the terror group carried out the strikes.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
