Sri Lankan president dismisses defense secretary, police chief after attacks

Sri Lanka’s president has asked for the resignations of the defense secretary and the national police chief. The move comes after security forces failed to act on warnings before the Easter suicide bombings that killed 359 people, AP reports. President Maithripala Sirisena’s office announced that he asked for the resignations on Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately clear who would replace them. Sirisena said during a televised speech on Tuesday that he planned to change the head of the defense forces within 24 hours. Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, which struck churches and hotels in the island nation. A Sri Lankan official has blamed breakaway members of two obscure local extremist Muslim groups.