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Islamic State claims Sri Lanka bloodbath, toll 321
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IANS | 23 Apr, 2019
The Islamic State on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the horrific
Easter Sunday suicide bombings in Sri Lanka as the death toll in the
carnage climbed to 321, including 10 Indians, with Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe warning of more explosives and militants "out there" and
that the Indian Embassy was also a "possible target".
The Islamic
State's claim came as Sri Lankans started to bury the dead from the
string of bombings. Tuesday was declared a national day of mourning and
white flags were hung from buildings across Colombo as a three-minute
silence was held from 8.30 a.m, about the time of the first of Sunday's
bombings.
At St. Sebastian's in Negombo, around 40 km north of
Colombo, more than 20 coffins were brought in for individual services in
the run-up to a mass memorial. A few hundred metres away, a palm-lined
lot donated to the church was turned into a mass burial site, where 22
bodies were laid to rest.
An Arabic language statement on the
Islamic State group's official al-Amaq news agency made the claim on an
encrypted messaging app, saying the suicide bombers were "fighters of
the Islamic State".
"The perpetrators of the attack that targeted
nationals of the crusader alliance (anti-IS US-led coalition) and
Christians in Sri Lanka were Islamic State fighters," the brief message
said.
Tuesday's statement came after an unconfirmed video posted
to social media by an affiliated group suggested that the Islamic State
was behind the Easter horror. That video showed photos of three of the
alleged suicide bombers.
The men, who are described as
"assailants" rather than the more common "martyrs", were named as Abul
Barra, Abul Mukhtar and Abu Ubaida and featured in front of a black IS
flag giving the one-finger salute, the news.com of Australia said.
Wickremesinghe
on Tuesday warned that there were more explosives and militants "out
there". He also acknowledged there was a prior warning of the attacks
and said some officials would likely lose their jobs over intelligence
lapses.
He also said there was a fourth failed attack on another major hotel and that the Indian Embassy was also a "possible target".
Sri
Lankan authorities were making progress in identifying the culprits and
evidence had been found on foreign links of the attacks, he added.
About
the Islamic State's claim, the Prime Minister said: "We will be
following up on IS claims. We believe there may be links."
Earlier
in the day, Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said that Easter attacks
were a "retaliation" for last month's Christchurch mosque shootings
that left 50 Muslims dead and were blamed on a white supermacist from
Australia
Authorities have so far named a Sri Lankan Muslim
group, the National Thowheed Jamath (NJT), for the Sunday bombings which
left over 500 injured.
The Islamic State's and the Defence
Minister's claim give an international dimension to the Sunday carnage
that killed mostly Sri Lankans but also some 40 foreigners, including
from the US and other Western countries as well as 10 Indians.
The Indian High Commission said that with the death of two more Indians, the Indian death toll had risen to 10.
Earlier
on Tuesday, bomb disposal squads were called to Kollupitiya railway
station in Colombo after an unattended package was found on a train. A
state of emergency has been introduced and 40 arrests made, with the
second overnight curfew lifted at 4 a.m.
A Syrian was among those
arrested and a massive search operation was ongoing to nab more
suspects. The government has suggested that seven suicide bombers were
involved in the bombings. A footage has also emerged of a
suspected suicide bomber wearing a sky blue shirt and jeans and carrying
a backpack, casually walking into an Easter congregation at St
Sebastian's church in Negombo where he blew himself up.
The
series of attacks on Sunday began with six nearly simultaneous
explosions targeting three luxury hotels in Colombo and three churches -
one in Colombo, another in Negombo and the third in the Tamil-majority
Batticaloa town in the island's east.
Hours later, a seventh blast took place in a small hotel near the Colombo zoo killing two persons.
The
last of the bombings occurred when police raided a residential complex
in Dematagoda, a neighbourhood in Colombo, but a terrorist detonated
himself killing three policemen and also the wife and sister of one of
the suicide bombers.
Sunday was the deadliest day in the country
since the end of a civil war between Tamil Tigers and government forces
that began in 1983 and ended in 2009.
The police in Colombo
issued an alert that a van or truck carrying explosives may be in
Colombo following which security was stepped up at government buildings
and police stations.
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