COLOMBO – Sri Lankan police arrested three men following a US intelligence warning of possible attacks against Israeli tourists visiting the island, the foreign minister said on Thursday (24).
“We are questioning three local men,” Vijitha Herath told reporters in Colombo. “We are taking the US warning seriously and have increased security.”
Herath said men were arrested in connection with an alleged plot to target a Jewish community centre in the island’s east.
Sri Lanka has deployed troops in the surfing resort of Arugam Bay after the US embassy warned of a possible attack, as well as in other popular tourist locations, added Herath, who is also the public security minister.
Israelis accounted for less than 1.5% of the 1.5 million tourists who visited the island in the first nine months of this year, around 20,000 people altogether.
Police, who had set up a hotline for Israelis, said about 570 Israeli citizens were currently in the country.
Arugam Bay, around 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Colombo by road, is a popular destination.
The US warning followed social media posts calling for a boycott of Israeli-owned businesses.
Police had said a Jewish community centre in Arugam Bay had provoked anger among the region’s Muslim-majority population.
There had also been protests by local Muslim groups against Israel’s conflict with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand shared the US warning on their websites, while the Russian embassy advised its nationals to avoid crowded places while visiting Sri Lanka.
There have been no attacks in Sri Lanka since the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which killed 279 people, including 45 foreign nationals.
The coordinated attack against three luxury hotels and three churches was blamed on a local jihadist group that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
The country’s 2022 economic meltdown, which precipitated widespread civil unrest, also impacted tourism, but it has been picking up since last year.
-Agence France-Presse
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