Two Masterminds: The FBI's Zahran, the Prosecution's Sallay, and Sri Lanka's Easter Sunday Reckoning

The attack, and the two questions

On Easter Sunday 2019, nine bombers struck three churches and three luxury hotels, killing more than 260 people (some counts cite 269) and the attackers themselves, and wounding over 500. Two questions have divided Sri Lanka ever since: who carried it out — and was it allowed, or enabled, to happen? The official investigations answer the first question clearly. The second is where the controversy, and the case against Suresh Sallay, lives.

What the FBI found

The FBI was one of several foreign agencies — alongside Britain's Scotland Yard, India's NIA and Interpol — that helped Sri Lankan police. Five US nationals died in the attacks, and an FBI team flew in from Singapore within days. After a near-two-year investigation, US prosecutors filed charges in December 2020 in the federal court in Los Angeles against three Sri Lankans — Mohamed Naufar (propaganda and recruitment), Mohamed Anwar Mohamed Riskan (bomb-making) and Ahamed Milhan Hayathu Mohamed (who scouted targets and killed a police officer) — for conspiring to provide material support to ISIS. In the supporting affidavit, FBI Special Agent Merrilee R. Goodwin stated that Zahran Hashim 'was the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday attacks and the self-proclaimed leader of ISIS in Sri Lanka.' The FBI's documented conclusion, in other words, was that this was an ISIS-affiliated plot led by Zahran.

What Sri Lanka's commission found

Sri Lanka's Presidential Commission of Inquiry reached a compatible conclusion on who carried it out: it found that Zahran Hashim volunteered to lead the suicide mission at a 27 March 2019 meeting in Panadura. The commission's harshest findings were about failure, not conspiracy — that specific intelligence warnings (including from India) were received and not acted upon, and it faulted senior officials. (One minister, Sarath Weerasekara, separately named another suspect, Mohamed Naufer, as 'mastermind' — illustrating that even the official side has not always spoken with one voice.)

The 'grand conspiracy' theory

Running alongside the ISIS finding is a darker theory: that the attacks were not merely missed but enabled, as a 'political plot.' Its most prominent advocate is Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, who has said that while the first impression was of Islamist extremism, later information pointed to 'a grand political plot.' Proponents point to timing — Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced his presidential bid days after the attacks and won in a landslide on a security platform. A 2023 Channel 4 documentary amplified the theory with a whistleblower, Azad Maulana, who alleged that Suresh Sallay had met members of the bomber network beforehand to facilitate a plot. These are allegations, contested and unproven.

The case against Sallay (2026)

The change of government in 2024 reopened the question with new urgency. On 25 February 2026 the CID arrested Major General Suresh Sallay — former Director of Military Intelligence and, from December 2019, head of the State Intelligence Service — and detained him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for alleged conspiracy and aiding and abetting the attacks. The prosecution case reportedly rests heavily on the same witness, Azad Maulana, whose statement was taken in France, and on accounts that Sallay sought church and mosque locations in Negombo and directed surveillance of access roads near the Katuwapitiya church. A linked travel ban was imposed on former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Sallay has not been convicted.

The tension at the heart of the case

Here is the crux any honest account must confront: the FBI and the Presidential Commission concluded the operation was an ISIS plot led by Zahran Hashim. The 2026 prosecution advances a different proposition — that intelligence officials had a hand in enabling it. These are not the same claim, and reconciling them is the central evidentiary challenge. Critics, including commentators in the mainstream press, warn that political agendas have repeatedly shaped the Easter probes and that a case resting largely on one witness invites scepticism. Supporters counter that genuine accountability for any enabling role was deferred for years and is finally being pursued. Both points can be true at once; neither is proof.

Sallay's defence

Sallay, through his lawyers, denies all allegations and calls them false. His defence says he was abroad during the relevant period — posted in Malaysia until December 2018 and at the National Defence College in New Delhi from January to November 2019 — placing him outside the country at the time of the April 2019 attacks. He has petitioned the Court of Appeal to quash the detention order. The Archdiocese of Colombo, for its part, has rejected what it calls a 'coordinated smear campaign' against Cardinal Ranjith by figures aligned with the former president — a reminder that accusations of bad faith fly in both directions.

Detention, hunger strike and misinformation

In June 2026 Sallay began what his family described as a 'fast unto death,' citing what he called mental torture and degrading treatment in custody; he was hospitalised on 7 June and told his lawyer the cell was 'like hell.' Those mistreatment claims are disputed. Separately, a viral image purporting to show Sallay tortured on CCTV was fact-checked and found to be AI-generated — a caution about how much of the online material around this case is manufactured.

What would actually resolve it

A credible resolution turns on questions a court — not a documentary or a press conference — must answer: whether the central witness can be corroborated by independent evidence; how any 'enabling' theory squares with the FBI and commission findings that Zahran led an ISIS cell; and whether PTA detention and the process around it meet fair-trial standards. Until then, the responsible position is precise: ISIS carried out the attacks and Zahran led the suicide team (established); whether anyone in the Sri Lankan state criminally enabled them, and whether Sallay is among them, is alleged and unproven. [DRAFT — pending counsel review and a formal request for comment from Sallay's legal team, the CID/Attorney-General, and the Archdiocese.]

Timeline

1. 2019-04-21
   Easter Sunday: nine ISIS-affiliated suicide bombers kill 260+ people at churches and hotels.
2. 2019-11
   Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who announced his candidacy days after the attacks, wins the presidency on a security platform.
3. 2019-12
   Suresh Sallay appointed Director of the State Intelligence Service.
4. 2020-12-11
   FBI affidavit in US federal court (Los Angeles) names Zahran Hashim as mastermind; three ISIS operatives charged.
5. 2021
   Presidential Commission of Inquiry reports: Zahran volunteered to lead the mission; warnings were ignored; officials faulted.
6. 2023
   Channel 4 documentary airs whistleblower claims alleging an intelligence/political plot and naming Sallay.
7. 2026-02-25
   CID arrests Sallay under the PTA over the Easter Sunday attacks.
8. 2026-06-07
   Sallay hospitalised after beginning a hunger strike in custody.
9. 2026-07-10
   Court of Appeal to consider Sallay's petition to quash the detention order.

Key claims & status

Sources

1. [1]US Dept. of Justice: Three Foreign Nationals Charged with Conspiring to Provide Material Support to ISIS
2. [2]Fox News: FBI assisting Sri Lankan government with Easter bombing investigation
3. [3]Daily Mirror: FBI Special Agent confirms Zahran Hashim as mastermind behind Easter Sunday attacks
4. [4]Jaffna Monitor: The Easter Sunday Files, Part One: What the FBI Found
5. [5]Wikipedia: 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings (Presidential Commission findings, casualties)
6. [6]UCA News: Documentary supports Sri Lankan Church's Easter bombing fears (Cardinal Ranjith)
7. [7]EconomyNext: Sri Lanka's Suresh Sallay complicit in Easter bombings: report
8. [8]Sri Lanka Brief: Wave of witness statements deepens scrutiny on Suresh Sallay
9. [9]Ada Derana: Former Head of State Intelligence Suresh Sallay arrested by CID
10. [10]Jaffna Monitor: The Suresh Sallay Affair, Explained
11. [11]The Sunday Times: Political agendas undermine credibility of Easter attack probes
12. [12]Daily Mirror: More questions than answers in Suresh Sallay's detention
13. [13]Catholic World Report: Church in Sri Lanka: let Easter bombing probe go 'unhindered' after spy chief's arrest
14. [14]Fact Crescendo: Viral image of detained ex-intelligence chief Suresh Sallay is AI-generated
15. [15]UCA News: Detained Sri Lankan ex-spy chief launches hunger strike