359 deaths in SL, attackers were locals educated in Australia: Reports

Fresh reports on the Sri Lankan bomb blasts say “The suicide bombers involved in Easter serial blasts were all from Sri Lanka, middle and upper middle class youth.” “One of them had an undergraduate degree from the UK, and a PG degree from Australia,” The Hindu reported.

While the island country is reeling in the aftermath of the series of bomb blasts that occurred on Sunday (April 21), the US ambassador to Sri Lanka denied reports that the US had prior intel on the attack.

The death toll in Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bomb attacks has risen to 359, police said on Wednesday (April 24) amidst nationwide search operations to nab the perpetrators of the country’s worst terror attack.

Several people were arrested in connection with the attacks on Tuesday, Police spokesman Ruwan Guansekera said. “The number of death now is 359,” Guansekera said.”

The Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility for the devastating Easter blasts in Sri Lanka and identified the suicide bombers who were involved in the attacks.

Seven suicide bombers carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, in the country’s worst terror attack.
Gunasekera said that the search operations were carried out during Tuesday night’s curfew hours in different parts of the country.

Police arrested scores of people with their suspected links to the National Thowheeth Jamath, the group which officials believe carried out the bombings.

Several suspects have been arrested

Over 10 people have been arrested from the Muslim minority concentrated areas of Aluthgama and Beruwela, south of Colombo, police said. Further six were arrested at Katuwapitiya in the western coastal area where the bombed St Sebastian’s Church is located.

Giving information on the suicide bombers, the police said that the attacks at the Cinnamon Grand and Shangri La Hotels had been carried out by two brothers.

The Cinnamon Grand Hotel bomber had booked himself into the hotel on the previous night. CCTV footages have shown his breakfast table where he was seen consuming pieces of fruit and taking a walk around the restaurant before exploding himself.

Their younger brother has also been nabbed by the police. The house search had led to the discovery of extremist literature, a computer hard disk and SIM cards, thought to have been used to coordinate the blasts.

The police has already arrested the accomplices of the bomber of the lodging house near the National Zoo at the Colombo suburb of Dehiwela. The tuk tuk taxi driver who had taken him to the lodge was also arrested, the police said.

The police suspected the bomber may have been targeting the nearby St Mary’s Church where a large gathering was present at the Easter Sunday mass.

However, the presence of police at the church, who were there due to a previous break into the church by thieves, had prevented the bombers entry into the church, officials said.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said Parliament would meet on Wednesday to debate the security situation in the country in the aftermath of the blasts.

Normal-life affected, emergency will continue in certain parts

The emergency regulations which were announced by President Maithripala Sirisena would be presented for Parliaments ratification. The emergency powers allow the security forces to launch crackdown on law and order breaches by sudden searches of property, arrests and detention of people indefinitely.

Jayasuriya told Parliament on Tuesday that the security of Parliament has to be stepped-up as warnings were receive on possible threats.

Sirisena, in his national address on Tuesday night, said the emergency regulations would only deal with counter terrorism measures and would in no way hamper the democratic and civil freedoms.

The Ministry of Education said the reopening of schools had been put off till April 29.

US denies possessing advance intel on Sri Lanka attacks

The US ambassador to Sri Lanka has denied that United States had prior knowledge of the Easter militant attacks that it passed to the Colombo government, CNN television reported on Wednesday (April 24).

A Sri Lankan minister had said earlier this week that India and the United States had provided information before the bombings on three churches and three hotels which authorities have blamed on a local Islamist group.

“Well I can’t speak for others. I don’t know what other sources of information the government of Sri Lanka might have had. I can just tell you that we had no prior knowledge,” the ambassador told.

“The Sri Lankan government has admitted lapses in their intelligence gathering and information sharing,” Teplitz added. Sri Lankan authorities have started an investigation into how warnings about possible attacks were not passed to top ministers.