In a dramatic move that set the stage for speculation, Sri Lanka authorities drastically reduced the death toll of the Easter Sunday terrorist attack from 359 down to 253.
In the move that then reduces the intensity of the attack, Deputy Secretary of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene said there were miscalculations in the actual counting, and that there were several pieces of one person counted as different persons.
Pundits, however, believe that this may be a ploy by the government to cover their face even as it emerged that warnings as early as April 4 were ignored.
Both India and the United States of America warned Sri Lanka of an imminent attack two weeks before it happened.
Reports indicate that India was to later even publish the names and faces of the suspected masterminds who were to conduct the deadly attack but the government failed to act.
In his own admission, Defence Deputy Secretary Ruwan Wijewardene said that they received intelligence on a wealthy businessman’s sons, but they did not expect them to be terrorists.
Why Numbers were Revised
“You may have hundreds of pieces of one person,” Weedn said. That makes it difficult to identify them and difficult to know what to collect from the scene where they died. “How about something as big as your finger … what about a grass blade with blood on it? It’s a slippery slope — you don’t know where to start and stop,” said Victor Weedn, a forensic pathologist and professor at the George Washington University.
Sleuths drawn from all over the world jetted into the South-East Asian island right after the attack, with Interpol, FBI and Scotland Yard leading the pack.
Police were to recover several bombs in public places as bus stops, airport and open spaces.
A dusk to dawn curfew is in place, and Police have arrested more than 70 people in connection with the attack.
Several of the bombs have been safely defused, and police are still on high alert after America warned of looming terrorist attacks.
While ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, authorities in Sri Lanka believe there was local participation.
A rebel group called NTJ, where one of the attackers is said to have been a key member is under investigation.
Some 39 foreigners died in the attack after suicide bombers invaded and detonated their explosives on them.
Eight Britons and Four Americans are part of the victims of the Sunday attack.
Some three policemen also lost their lives when the wife of a suicide bomber detonated her explosive, killing her three children and the cops who raided the home.