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Police in Sri Lanka have raised security around a popular surfing spot after receiving information about a possible threat to Israeli travelers, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The warning comes as Israel’s national security council called on Israelis to immediately leave some tourist areas in southern Sri Lanka over the threat.
Sri Lanka police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa said special security measures had been put in place at Arugam Bay in the country’s east.
“This area is a popular spot for surfing and this has attracted a large number of Israeli tourists. We are working to ensure they remain safe,” Thalduwa added.
The police statement came after the U.S. embassy in Sri Lanka alerted Americans to avoid Arugam Bay area until further notice due to “credible information warning of an attack targeting popular tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area.”
Israel’s national security council said the warning pertained to the area of Arugam Bay and beaches in the south and west of Sri Lanka, and stemmed from “current information about a terrorist threat focused on tourist areas and beaches”.
The security council did not specify the exact nature of the threat and called on Israelis in the rest of Sri Lanka to be cautious and refrain from holding large gatherings in public areas.
“The Israeli security establishment … is in close contact with the security authorities in Sri Lanka and is following the developments,” it said.
Thalduwa said the regional police had stepped up security over the past days increasing road blocks and vehicle checks and police will be putting in place security measures around the country to protect tourists who will be visiting Sri Lanka for the oncoming year-end tourist season.
Sri Lanka, famed for its pristine beaches, tea plantations and historic temples, is seeing a resurgence in tourists as the island nation recovers from a severe financial crisis.
It is slowly emerging from its worst economic crisis and the tourism industry has been a main driver of its recovery.
Simultaneous suicide bomb attacks on three tourist hotels and three churches on Easter Sunday in 2019 caused a downturn in the industry and contributed to an economic collapse three years later.
In the first eight months of this year, 1.5 million tourists arrived in Sri Lanka, including a total of 20,515 from Israel, government data showed.
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