Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena extends state of emergency in surprise move over Easter Sunday terror attacks

A state of emergency was extended by Sri Lanka's President, Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday, going back on pledges to relax tough laws introduced after Easter Sunday attacks that killed 258 people.

Maithripala Sirisena said in a decree he believed re was a "public emergency" in country and was invoking provisions of public security act extending state of emergency.

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tough laws, granting sweeping powers to police and security forces to arrest and detain suspects, were due to expire on Saturday. Just over 100 people, including 10 women, are in custody in connection with April's Easter Sunday suicide attacks against three churches and three luxury hotels in Colombo.

In late May, Maithripala Sirisena told diplomats from Australia, Cana, Japan, US, and European states security situation was "99 per cent back to rmal" and he would allow emergency laws to lapse by June 22.

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He assured diplomats security forces h eir detained or killed all those directly involved in attacks, blamed on a local Jihi group and claimed by Islamic State group. re was immediate word from government why Maithripala Sirisena changed his mind, but security remains tight in capital. emergency can be declared for a month at a time, and parliament must ratify it within 10 days.

continuation of emergency came as police anunced criminal investigations against several top officers, including Inspector-General, for negligence and lapses ahe of bombings. Maithripala Sirisena himself has been criticised for failing to act on precise Indian intelligence that jihists were about to hit Christian churches and or targets in Sri Lanka.

A parliamentary public inquiry has told Maithripala Sirisena who is also minister of defense and law and order failed to follow proper national security protocols. mainly Buddhist nation of 21 million people was about to mark a dece since ending a 37-year-long Tamil separatist war when Islamic extremists struck.