Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando (Photo: Colombo Telegraph)

Fernando tendered his resignation at the request of President Maithripala Sirisena. According to Fernando, being Sri Lanka’s top defense official, he had to take responsibility for his failure to prevent the bloody attack. However, he insisted that Sri Lanka’s security agencies quickly responded to information received prior to the blast.

President Sirisena pledged to completely restructure Sri Lanka’s police and security forces in the coming weeks and change the heads of defence groups following their failure to prevent the suicide bombing, despite the fact they had prior information about the attacks.