BREAKING NEWS

Sri Lanka army chief says threat of more Islamist militant attacks contained

Sri Lanka's army commander Mahesh Senanayake said the threat of more Islamist militant attacks has been contained and the security services have dismantled most of the network linked to the Easter Sunday bombings.

In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Senanayake said that investigators have established that the plotters had links to Islamic State, but added that the authorities are still trying to establish how deep those contacts were.

"There is a link internationally, so we are working on those lines " he said.

"Definitely there is an IS link. That doesn't mean it was a direct IS hit. But we are trying to establish how deep it is in order to plan our (military) operations."

The army chief said he expects the country to return to normality within days and wants the military to head back to their barracks soon.