US denies warning Sri Lanka about attacks

US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz has told the CNN that the US did not provide Sri Lanka with advance intelligence regarding imminent attacks prior to Easter Sunday, reports Sri Lanka English-language newspaper The Daily Mirror.

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday, the Ambassador said that they had no prior knowledge of the attacks.

“We had no prior knowledge of these attacks. The Sri Lankan Government has admitted lapses in their intelligence gathering and information sharing,” she said.

The CNN reports that this contradicts what the Sri Lankan Government has said as Minister Harsha de Silva earlier told CNN that advance intelligence had been provided by “both India and the US.”

When Amanpour asked the Ambassador about De Silva’s claim, she 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.”