Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, today urged the establishment of an independent prosecutor's office with full authority to oversee and further investigate the 2019 bombings.

The Archbishop made this significant call while addressing the commemoration of the sixth anniversary of the devastating Easter Sunday attacks that took place at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Kochchikade, one of the primary targets of the April 21, 2019 attacks.

On that tragic day, suicide bombers targeted three Catholic and Christian churches – St. Anthony’s Shrine, St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, and Zion Church in Batticaloa – as well as three luxury hotels in Colombo, resulting in the deaths of 269 people, and many others becoming disabled.

Including the establishment of the prosecutor's office, the Cardinal had a list of 7 requests.

Cardinal Ranjith pressed President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to launch a thorough investigation into recent allegations made by the UK's Channel 4.

The broadcaster claimed potential links between Sri Lankan military intelligence and Zahran Hashim, the key suicide bomber in the attacks.

Subsequent investigations had confirmed that an Islamic extremist group was responsible for the bombings, with further explosions occurring at a housing complex in Dematagoda and a lodging in Dehiwala.

A key finding of later inquiries highlighted a critical failure: despite advance intelligence warnings, effective preventative action was not taken.

In the meantime, the Cardinal also announced that the Vatican, through the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, has included the names of 167 Catholics who perished in the bombings of St. Anthony's Shrine and St. Sebastian's Church in its catalogue of the Witnesses of the Faith.