Sri Lankan, Indian foreign ministers hold talks in Thailand

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Sri Lanka’s foreign affairs minister Tilak Marapana today held a bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in Bangkok on Friday.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the annual meeting of foreign ministers at Asean (Association of South-east Asian Nations) in the Thai capital.

Jaishankar is in the Thai capital to attend a number of conferences, including the ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting, the 9th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the 26th ASEAN Regional Forum and the 10th Mekong Ganga Cooperation Ministerial Meeting.

He reiterated India’s strong support in the fight against terrorism with Sri Lanka, which saw the country’s worst terror attack on Easter Sunday.

“An important neighbour, a valuable friend. Warm meeting with FM @MFA_SriLanka Tilak Marapana. Reiterated our strong support in the fight against terrorism,” he tweeted.

Nine suicide bombers carried out a series of blasts that tore through three churches and as many high-end hotels, killing 258 people, including 11 Indians, in the country’s deadliest violence since the brutal civil war ended in 2009.

The Islamic State claimed the attacks, but the government has blamed local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaath (NTJ) for the bombings.