Sri Lanka ends 4-month long state of emergency

Sri Lanka has ended the four-month-long state of emergency imposed in the country following the Easter Sunday attacks that claimed 258 lives. 

Officials sources said a government gazette which should have been issued on Thursday to extend the state of emergency by a further month was not issued. President Maithripala Sirisena has been extending the emergency through a gazette notification every



month since the bombings on April 21.

Sri Lanka initially imposed the emergency on April 23 to crack down on the nine suicide bombers who attacked three churches and as many luxury hotels, killing 258 people and injuring 500 others. The state of emergency gives sweeping powers to the security forces to arrest and detain people in the aftermath of the attack.