Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando resigned Thursday over his failure to prevent the Easter blasts that killed 359 people even as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said authorities were targeting the "sleepers" who could trigger another round of bombings.
Authorities also released photographs of six suspects, including three women, wanted for their involvement in the attacks and sought information regarding them from the public.
Nine suicide bombers, believed to be members of local Islamist extremist group called National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ), carried out the devastating blasts that killed 359 people and wounded more than 500 others.
Defence Secretary Fernando handed over his resignation letter to President Maithripala Sirisena Thursday. President Sirisena had asked Fernando and Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara to quit after their failure to prevent the blasts despite having prior intelligence.
Facing public criticism for not acting against Islamist extremist groups in the island nation, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said some of the suspected attackers responsible for the Easter bombings were being monitored by the country's intelligence services.
But authorities did not have "sufficient" evidence to place the suspected attackers in custody prior to the attacks, he said.
Top officials have acknowledged that Sri Lanka received intelligence about possible terror strikes ahead of the attacks, but both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe have said that they did not receive the information.
Wickremesinghe told CNN that he did not rule out the possibility of more attacks in the country. He said authorities were now focussing on "sleepers" - terrorists who could activate another round of attacks.
"Police and security forces are rounding up those involved, but they're also rounding up the sleepers, those used on second and third rounds (of attacks)," he said.
"The danger has come down drastically, (but) we do have to pick up some more sleepers, which we will do in the next few days."
"It is a precaution that we are taking, we want to be sure we have everyone in," Wickremesinghe said. "They are worried that one or two could get into a church -- (even) one person can do a lot of damage."
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