New Delhi: The Indian Coast Guard was put on high alert on Monday along the maritime border to prevent Sri Lanka blast perpetrators from escaping the country.
According to news agency ANI, ships and maritime surveillance aircraft Dornier have been deployed on the maritime border to prevent any attempts by suicide bombing perpetrators to flee.
"In the backdrop of Sri Lanka blasts, security has been enhanced in and around Naval base as a precautionary measure. Surveillance over sea has also been enhanced," a Defence spokesman said. The Kochi-based Southern Naval Command is one of the three main formations of the Indian Navy.
The deployment of Navy comes hours after a top Sri Lankan minister said that a local outfit, identified as the National Tawheed Jamath, was suspected of plotting the blasts. Health Minister and the government spokesman, Rajitha Senaratne, also said that all suicide bombers involved in the blasts are believed to be Sri Lankan nationals.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Srisena has declared a nationwide emergency from midnight on Monday. "The government has decided to gazette the clauses related to prevention of terrorism to emergency regulation and gazette it by midnight," the president's media unit said in a statement. It said the measure would be confined to dealing with terrorism and would not impinge on freedom of expression.
Police said they have also found 87 bomb detonators at a Colombo bus station, a day after a string of attacks on churches and hotels that killed nearly 300 people. A statement said police found the detonators at the Bastian Mawatha Private bus stand, 12 of them scattered on the ground and another 75 in a garbage dump nearby.
