You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Sri Lanka
Day 6: Sri Lanka attacks: 16 more arrests, death count reduced to 253, hunt for more jihadis
2019-04-26
Day 5’s events can be seen here. More about the Ahmadi refugees fleeing their homes here.
[IsraelTimes] Sri Lanka’s prime minister said Thursday that suspects linked to the coordinated Easter Sunday bomb attacks remain at large and could have access to explosives.

Some of the suspects “may go out for a suicide attack,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Approximately 250 people were killed in the string of suicide bombings at churches and luxury hotels in and around the capital, Colombo, Sri Lanka’s health ministry said late Thursday. The death toll was revised down from previous police estimates of 359 people.

Police, meanwhile, issued a public appeal for information about three women and two men suspected of involvement in the attacks.

Wickremesinghe also said that the father of two of the suspected suicide bombers, Colombo spice dealer Mohammad Yusuf Ibrahim,
...alternatively (below), Mohammed Yoonus Ibrahim. Within a day or two no doubt the correct version will become clear,.
had been arrested. He described him as a leading businessman active in politics known as “Ibrahim Hajiar,” a Sri Lankan term for Muslims who have gone on religious pilgrimages to Mecca. The prime minister expressed doubt about Ibrahim’s complicity in the attack.

“People like that would not have wanted their sons to blow themselves up,” he said.

Sri Lankan authorities have blamed a local extremist group, National Towheed Jamaat, whose leader, alternately named Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary online speeches.

On Wednesday, junior defense minister Ruwan Wijewardene said the attackers had broken away from National Towheed Jamaat and another group, which he identified only as “JMI.”

Wijewardene said many of the suicide bombers were highly educated and came from well-to-do families. The prime minister said it appeared that Sri Lanka’s wealthiest and best-traveled Muslims were most susceptible to the doctrine professed by the Islamic State group.

“They were too educated and therefore, they were misled,” Wickremesinghe said.

The bombers were wealthy enough to have financed the entire operation themselves, though they would have needed outside help for training and bomb-building expertise, Wickremsinghe said.

He said that authorities still hadn’t confirmed whether Zahran, who was supposed to have led one of suicide missions, was among the corpses recovered from the scenes or still at large.

Wickremesinghe said Thursday that security forces were trying to help Muslim Ahmadis from Pakistan seeking refugee status in Sri Lanka, who said they had been attacked and beaten in the days following the bombings.
An Nahar adds:
Sri Lanka's Catholic church suspended all public services over security fears on Thursday, as thousands of troops joined the hunt for suspects in deadly Easter bombings that killed nearly 360 people.

Authorities made fresh arrests and stepped up security measures.

A senior Catholic priest told AFP that all public services were being suspended and all churches closed "on the advice of security forces". Private burials will still be carried out.

Security forces using state of emergency powers arrested 16 more suspects overnight, bringing the total in custody to 74 since the attacks.

Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said the army had increased its deployment on the streets from 5,000 to 6,300, with the navy and air force also deploying an additional 2,000 personnel.

Authorities also banned drone flights.

The Daily Mail has more about jacket wallah Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, who failed to detonate at the Taj Samudra hotel, here:
  • His bomb malfunctioned and went off at a small guesthouse, killing one tourist

  • Mohamed studied aviation engineering at at Kingston University in London from 2006

  • His sister has told MailOnline how he became radicalised while living in Australia

  • Mohamed's wife has been taken into police custody
Another Daily Mail article has more about brothers Inshaf and Ilham Ibrahim, who kaboomed at the Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels, here:
  • Workers at family firm said Ilham, the younger brother, radicalised his sibling

  • He was previously arrested and then released by police, it has been claimed

  • The lads’ father, Mohammed Yoonus Ibrahim arrested on suspicion of helping his sons plan attack

  • Indian intelligence sources said Ijas Ahmed Ibrahim, 30,
    ...alternately Ijaz Ahmed Ibrahim...
    Mohammed's third son, was also questioned about the attack

  • Several family members had been under surveillance before attacks, but evidence hadn't been 'sufficient' enough to take them into custody.

Sri Lanka Health Ministry revises death toll of easter Sunday bombings to 253 from previous 359 after a calculation error
[TWITTER]

Sri Lanka police arrest 3 persons along with 21 hand grenade type, locally made low explosives
[TWITTER]

Another #IS related group has released a new propaganda video including perpetrators of #SriLankaAttacks
[TWITTER]
Posted by:trailing wife

00:00