Colombo: Sri Lanka has decided to enforce a "special security network" to protect the star hotels in and around capital Colombo after a well-planned terrorist attack rocked neighbouring India's commercial capital of Mumbai.
According to top government sources, President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave this directive after convening a security review meeting with the owners of tourist hotels, government representatives and defence authorities here in Colombo late Thursday.
"The need for a special security arrangement to protect hotels is greatly felt," President Rajapaksa said at the security review meeting.
Rajapaksa in a statement Thursday "vehemently condemned" the terror attack that left over 125 people dead in Mumbai, as the Indian elite commandos were battling to rescue the guests taken hostage by the terrorists.
Claiming that the indiscriminate attacks in Mumbai "show that the terrorists are targeting an important sector of the Indian economy with a view to destabilizing democracy in India," Rajapaksa called for "concerted action" by all countries to eliminate terrorism.
"These unfortunate attacks bring into focus the urgent need for concerted action by all countries to eradicate the menace of terrorism, wherever it is, and whoever the leaders and manipulators of such violence may be," he said.
The government sources said that a committee headed by a retired deputy inspector general of police has already been named "to co-ordinate security arrangements (for the hotels) to be undertaken under the supervision of the defence ministry".
