New Delhi, June 10 -- Sri Lanka's public security minister told Parliament on Wednesday that the country's former intelligence chief had orchestrated the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, marking the first official allegation directly linking him to the bombings that claimed 279 lives, including 11 Indians.

Minister Ananda Wijepala said Major General Suresh Sallay, who was arrested in February on charges of "aiding and abetting" the attacks, had allegedly selected a Catholic church as one of the targets.

The coordinated bombings, considered the deadliest terror attack against civilians in Sri Lanka's history, targeted three luxury hotels in the capital, two Roman Catholic churches, and an evangelical Protestant church near Colombo.

"Investig...