Terrorists Used "Easily Available Chemicals" To Make Bombs: Sri Lanka PM

The suicide bombers behind the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka assembled easily-available chemicals to make explosives, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said, as authorities probe how terrorists acquired the technical knowledge.

Mr Wickremesinghe said investigators have been tracking the trail of explosives used to manufacture the bombs used to target churches and luxury hotels in the country.

"We have been tracking the arms. Most of them were easily-available chemicals," he was quoted as saying by Efe news on Monday.

The Prime Minister noted that there was now a "question of funding and where the know-how to put these together" came from. "These are explosives which had to be kept in a certain climate and certain temperatures," he said.

Sri Lanka government has deployed thousands of troops to round up any remaining suspected terrorists on the island nation.

PM Wickremesinghe said terrorist behind the attacks might have "self-funded" their activities since they belonged to affluent families. However, it is believed that intelligence officials are also tracking financial records to see if foreign organizations helped the bombers with funds to carry out the attacks.

The Sri Lankan government has been heavily criticized for its apparent failure to prevent the worst carnage the country has suffered since the 26-year-old civil war between Tamil guerrillas and government ended in 2009.

President Maithripala Sirisena last week blamed intelligence failures for the devastating bombings amid reports that there were prior warnings that terrorists were planning the attacks.

PM Wickremesinghe said that the series of well-coordinated explosions could have been prevented "if security agencies followed instructions given to them".