State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardena stated in Parliament today that the Easter Sunday attacks were carried out by a local extremist group in response to the Christchurch mosque attack in New Zealand earlier this year.

"According to initial investigations, it has been established that the attack was a response to the Christchurch mosque attack. However, further investigations are still underway," Wijewardena said.

The government has now claimed that a local extremist organization by the name of 'The National Thowheed Jamath' is behind the Easter Sunday Attack which claimed over 320 lives.

The State Defence Minister also said he was not made aware of intelligence reports pertaining to a possible terror attack in Colombo. He said the Prime Minister too was kept in the dark about the matter.

"Only a handful of people knew about the report," Wijewardena said confirming that the Prime Minister and the State Defence Minister were not invited for the National Security Council after the resolution of the 51-day political crisis.

However, Wijewardena said he attended the National Security Council which was held yesterday under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena.