COLOMBO, April 26 (Xinhua) - Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said on Friday that terrorists who carried out the Easter blasts have a link to drug trade.

The president told a press conference in Colombo that the attacks may have been carried out sooner than planned due to his anti-drug campaign.

A Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil woman walks on a road leading to St. Anthony's Church, one of the sites of Easter Sunday's bomb attacks in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (Photo: AP)

Sirisena said, "let's not forget the connection between the war against narcotics and terrorism."

Speaking of the link between local extremist group and the Islamic State (IS) group, he said so far Sri Lankan authorities have found out about 140 people were linked to the IS group and more than 70 of them had been arrested.

The president said terrorism will be wiped out of Sri Lanka soon. "We will soon restore normalcy. International agencies are here assisting us in the probe," he said.

A string of bombs exploded in hotels and churches across Sri Lanka on Sunday. According to the latest number from Sri Lanka's Health Ministry, the blasts have killed about 250 people.