Sri Lanka president vows to "eradicate terrorism", bring stability before election

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena said the security forces would "eradicate terrorism" and restore stability before a presidential election due for year-end, vowing to bring to heel all militants linked to the Easter Sunday suicide attacks.

"Elections cannot be postponed, therefore before the elections I will bring about stability and I will eradicate terrorism," Sirisena told Reuters in an interview on Saturday. "We have already identified all active members of the group and it's a case of now arresting them."

The president said there were a further 25 to 30 "active members" linked to the bombings still at large and that he believed Islamic State was behind the April 21 attacks. (Reporting By Shri Navaratnam & Shihar Aneez Editing by Gareth Jones)