Children carrying pictures of the victims pay tribute on the 6th anniversary of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks inside St Sebastian's Church in Katuwapitiya. Photo: AFP via Getty

Suresh Sallay, a retired army major general, was held from a Colombo suburb over allegations of aiding and abetting what came to be known as the Easter Sunday bombings, one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the country’s recent history, police said on Wednesday.

The six simultaneous attacks on 21 April 2019 sent shockwaves across the island nation and revived memories of a 26-year civil war marked by suicide bombings, assassinations and guerrilla warfare to create an independent state for the country's ethnic Tamil minority.

Two days after the bombings, the Islamic State claimed responsibility, releasing a customary video showing eight men, including a pair of rich brothers, pledging allegiance to the group’s then leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The Islamic State was not known to have a presence in Sri Lanka until then.

At a special briefing on Wednesday, senior deputy inspector general Sajeewa Medawatte said Mr Sallay was arrested based on evidence uncovered in relation to the Easter Sunday attacks.

Police spokesman Fredrick Wootler said the Criminal Investigation Department was looking into possible "links or lapses" by Mr Salley in connection with the attacks.

At the time of the attacks, Mr Sallay was an army brigadier serving in a diplomatic role in Malaysia. He was appointed director of the State Intelligence Service in late 2019 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president.

His arrest came ahead of the seventh anniversary of the bombings.

In the wake of the bombings, allegations surfaced that the attackers had links with the Sri Lankan intelligence and Mr Sallary came under the scanner.

In 2023, Channel 4 reported that Mr Sallay had links with the bombers. A man interviewed by the British broadcaster claimed he had arranged a meeting for Mr Salley with a local group known as Thowheed Jamath, which was inspired by the Islamic State. It was allegedly at this meeting that a plot was hatched to stir insecurity in the country and enable Mr Rajapaksa to win the presidential election later that year.

The man interviewed by Channel 4, Azad Maulana, was a spokesperson for a Tamil Tigers breakaway group that later became a proxy militia and helped the Sinhalese-dominated government defeat the rebels.

After security camera footage of the bombings was released, Mr Maulana said he recognised the faces of the attackers as the people he had arranged to meet with Mr Salley.

The Sri Lankan defence ministry has denied any involvement in the attacks.

In 2021, US authorities charged three Sri Lankans with supporting the Easter Sunday attacks, in which five Americans were among 45 foreigners killed. The trio are among 25 suspects indicted before Sri Lanka’s High Court.

The UN earlier urged Sri Lanka to release parts of previous inquiries into the attacks that were withheld from the public.