Sri Lanka - Hundreds dead and injured in terror bombings, 21 April 2019 *ARRESTS*

[Cryptic]

The number of people killed in Sri Lanka's church and hotel attacks has risen to 290 with more than 500 people injured and 13 suspects arrested.
Meanwhile it has emerged warnings of an imminent attack were circulated to authorities just days before the bombings.

This is awful and getting worse.

One aspect that could have led to police downplaying the threat of impending attacks is that prior to this, the terror group in question was evidently not even a terror "B team". For example, their past activities were apparently limited to making an inflammatory mosque sermon(s) about Buddha as well as possibly vandalizing some Buddhist images.

This led to an investigation under Sri Lanka's religious provocation laws. The sudden move from " obnoxious idiots" to at least planning a deadly attack to successfully coordinated huge attacks ala Al Queda or ISIS level may well indicate foreign planning, leadership and funding.

 

[ZaZara]

Conflict News @conflicts

Conflict News on Twitter

BREAKING: Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka over the Easter weekend that killed at least 321 people, and wounded a further 500.

MORE: Despite IS claiming the Sri Lanka attack, they have not provided any evidence or proof of their role in it.

 

[Suwannee]

Conflict News @conflicts

Conflict News on Twitter

BREAKING: Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka over the Easter weekend that killed at least 321 people, and wounded a further 500.

Thanks, @ZaZara for posting this.

My native Arabic-speaking DH roughly translated it:

“Ámak (“Depths”) Security Sources:
Those who executed the attack that targeted those belonging to the Coalition Forces and the Christians in Sri Lanka day before yesterday are fighters for the Islamic State.”

BTW, the Arabic word for “Christian” used in this writing is not the typical term used by Christians who are native Arabic speakers. Some will use it, be not most. IMO, it’s slightly pejorative (but, considering the source, I am not surprised).

Prayers for all those loved ones who are grieving over such a tremendous loss; may all victims who have perished due to this evil be resting in “the house not made with hands.” 2 Cor. 5:1

 

[ZaZara]

Thanks, @ZaZara for posting this.

My native Arabic-speaking DH roughly translated it:

“Ámak (“Depths”) Security Sources:
Those who executed the attack that targeted those belonging to the Coalition Forces and the Christians in Sri Lanka day before yesterday are fighters for the Islamic State.”

BTW, the Arabic word for “Christian” used in this writing is not the typical term used by Christians who are native Arabic speakers. Some will use it, be not most. IMO, it’s slightly pejorative (but, considering the source, I am not surprised).

Prayers for all those loved ones who are grieving over such a tremendous loss; may all victims who have perished due to this evil be resting in “the house not made with hands.” 2 Cor. 5:1

Thanks for the translation Suwannee. No need to mince words IMHO, it says what it says, be it unbelievers or crusaders or worse. I for one quite like crusaders but then I come from a longstanding tradition where we embrace our epithets and you never know when it might come in handy.

The islamic state may no longer exist as a territory, unfortunately the ideology is alive and kicking and returning fighters are everywhere.

 

[JudgeJudi]

A Sri Lankan minister says an initial investigation shows the deadly Easter Sunday attacks were carried out in retaliation for last month's Christchurch mosque shootings.

The office of New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern said she was aware of comments linking Sri Lanka's Easter bombings to the mosque attacks in Christchurch, but noted the investigation was investigation was "in its early stages".

"New Zealand has not yet seen any intelligence upon which such an assessment might be based," it said.

Sri Lanka bombings 'in retaliation' for Christchurch mosque shootings

 

[JudgeJudi]

The Prime Minister said at a news conference that the deadly attacks on Easter Sunday could have been prevented if there hadn’t been a breach in communications.

He said that if it was known, they could have prevented many of the attacks in the churches and had more security in the hotels.

The attackers had foreign links and some had traveled abroad. “This could not have been done just locally,” he said, adding that the attackers have been training “in coordination which we have not seen earlier.”

Asked if there are currently active threats in the country, the prime minister told reporters that there are "still people on the run with explosives" but he doesn't know how many.

Sri Lanka bombing: Live updates - CNN

 

[JudgeJudi]

A former senior police official said the Sri Lankan government's failure to act on intelligence it received about potential terrorist attacks ahead of the Easter Sunday bombings was “criminally negligent”.

Asked about intelligence received from foreign security agencies in advance of Sunday's attacks, the official said that such specific warnings are “very rare,” and to not act upon the warnings received was “criminally negligent.”

“This was not an oversight, it was absolutely an irresponsible act which should be dealt with under the criminal law of the country,” he said. “This is a crime which has been done by omission.”

Sri Lanka bombing: Live updates - CNN

 

[ZaZara]

Amichai Stein on Twitter

#BREAKING: #ISIS 'Amaq News Agency releases a 59-second video showing #SriLanka attackers pledging to #ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi


Video at link.

 

[ZaZara]

Sri Lanka suicide bombers studied in UK says country's defence minister | Daily Mail Online

One of the suicide bombers in the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka studied in the UK and Australia, it emerged today.

The country's Deputy Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene did not name the terrorist, or which university or college he attended.

But he did say the attackers were all middle or upper class, well educated, from financially stable families, and that many of them had higher education.

The revelation that one of the terrorists studied in Britain sparked fears that he could have been radicalised at a university here.

Eight British nationals died when suicide bombers targeted churches and hotels, and the number of confirmed dead had risen to 359.

Security expert Professor Anthony Glees also suggested MI5 will know the identity of the bomber with the British link.


BBM

 

[Elley Mae]

Sri Lanka's leader calls for officials' firings as Easter suicide bombers revealed to be ‘well-educated people’ who studied abroad

Sri Lanka's leader calls for officials' firings as Easter suicide bombers revealed to be ‘well-educated people’ who studied abroad

Sri Lanka's president has called for the resignations of the country’s defense secretary and national police chief Wednesday after officials admitted to suffering a “major lapse” in communications in the lead-up to the Easter Sunday bombings, which have left more than 350 people dead.

 

[ZaZara]

Inside factory where Sri Lanka jihadists plotted to slaughter Christians | Daily Mail Online

This is the factory where the Easter Sunday attacks were masterminded and the 'mother of Satan' suicide bombs are believed to have been built, MailOnline can reveal.

The copper factory, in Wellampitiya, a north-eastern suburb of Colombo, belonged to 'calm and devout' Inshaf Ahamad, who is understood to have blown himself up at a hotel frequented by foreigners in the atrocity.

Inshaf's brother-in-law said the businessman drove a brand new white Land Cruiser and came from a middle class background.

Speaking to MailOnline, Ashkhan Alamdeen, 29, said he had brought shame their family.

'They have ruined our family and taken the lives of hundreds of people from all over the world,' Ashkhan said.

'We had no idea what they were planning. If we had, we would have immediately told the police.'

Inshaf is said to have attacked the Cinnamon Grand hotel where retired fireman Bill Harrop and his wife Sally were killed, while his brother Ilham targeted the Shangri-La, massacring British lawyer Ben Nicholson’s wife and two children.

Their father, a successful spice trader, was arrested at the family home after bombs went off at the family home, killing three police officers.

Ashkhan went on: 'We feel no emotion apart from anger. Pure anger. They were successful men with everything to live for.

He said his sister, Ishfan's wife, was 'living in a dream world' following the massacre.

'She can't believe it really happened. She is in great psychological pain.'

After obtaining the material for the bomb, Inshaf, a father-of-four in his mid-thirties, told his wife that he was going to Zambia on a business trip, Mr Alamdeen said.

The investigation is ongoing, but detectives believe the location was used to build the suicide vest using the explosive substance triacetone triperoxide, dubbed 'Mother of Satan' by Al Qaeda for its destructive power.

The substance, a calling card of Islamist terrorists, played a role in both the 2017 Manchester bombing and 2015 Paris Bataclan attacks.

A senior police source closely involved with the investigation told MailOnline that Inshaf's financial background 'doesn't appear to add up'.

'Where did he get so much money from? That is the question we are asking,' the source said. 'The network is so widespread that we are just starting to piece it together.

'It's like a cancer that has already spread through the body that we are trying to cure.'


BBM


The jihadist cell that carried out the attack on the Ramblas in Barcelona in 2017, killed three of their own when they made a mistake while cooking TATP. The police first dismissed the explosion as related to gas, it wasn't until after the attack on the Ramblas that they took a closer look and discovered a factory.

TATP, 'THE MOTHER OF SATAN' FOUND IN THE RUINS OF THE HOUSE IN ALCANAR

El Pais
‘La madre de Satán’ aparece entre las ruinas de Alcanar

Investigators combing the ruins of the house that exploded last Wednesday in Alcanar (Tarragona), alleged base of operations of the now disarmed terrorist group, have found traces of the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP), better known as the mother of Satan.

The finding reinforces the thesis that the terrorist group that has caused 14 deaths in Barcelona and Cambrils had plans to commit more extensive attacks. Among the pieces of rubble, beams and butane gas bottles, the Mossos have detected samples of TATP. The remains of the explosive point to the frustrated intentions of the terrorists to carry out attacks with deflagrations whose impact would have surpassed the current number of victims.

TATP is an explosive commonly used by members of the Islamic State deployed in Europe, found in attacks such as Brussels, Paris or 7-J in London. The mother of Satan can have two aspects: dry and powdery, which causes it to be extremely unstable, or gelled with water or acetone, which makes it more stable.

The three basic compounds of TATP are acetone, hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid, products that can be purchased at any drugstore. Their preparation may take days, but it is simple, according to experts iof the anti terrorist units.


BBM

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

https://nypost.com/2019/04/25/father-of-two-easter-suicide-bombers-arrested/

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s former navy chief says the father of two of the Easter suicide bombers has been arrested on suspicion of aiding his sons.

Sri Lanka attacks: Spice tycoon investigated for helping sons

Mohamed Yusuf Ibrahim was arrested Sunday following attacks at hotels and churches. His adult sons, Imsath Ahmed Ibrahim and Ilham Ahmed Ibrahim, blew themselves up in Sunday's attacks.

On Thursday, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told CNN that their father, Mohamed Yusuf Ibrahim, was is in custody on suspicion of aiding and abetting his sons. Gunasekera added that all other members of the Ibrahim family are believed to be in custody.

 

[Elley Mae]

Shootout in Sri Lanka as police raid suspected bomb factory

Shootout in Sri Lanka as police raid suspected bomb factory

 

[Elley Mae]

Sri Lanka attacks: president says civil war inquiries left country vulnerable

Sri Lanka attacks: president says civil war inquiries left country vulnerable

Maithripala Sirisena told Sri Lankan media outlets on Friday morning that there were up to 140 supporters of Islamic State in the country and that about 70 had been arrested.

 

[dotr]

April 27 2019
6 children among 15 killed as militants set off bombs during Sri Lanka raid
"Militants linked to Easter suicide bombings opened fire and set off explosives during a raid by Sri Lankan security forces on a house in the country’s east, leaving behind a grisly discovery Saturday: 15 bodies, including six children.

The gunbattle that began Friday night and the carnage that followed came amid widespread fear of more attacks as officials hunt for militants with explosives believed to still be at large after the co-ordinated bombings of churches and luxury hotels that killed more than 250 people nearly a week ago.

Raids and police curfews have shut down areas of eastern Sri Lanka, and Catholic leaders have cancelled Sunday Masses indefinitely. Officials also urged Muslims to stay home for prayers in an extraordinary call by the clergy to curtail worship".

 

[ZaZara]

I stopped giving this thread the attention that it deserves. My bad, I was (am) busy with others things. Saw the news passing by in a corner of my eye and it shocked me to read that the perps all came from well to do families and had all the opportunities to progress in life, to achieve , to bring about things for the common good. The one who had the factory .... there were poor immigrants from Bangla Desh who depended on that factory for a living. Did he care? About them? About anyone or anything? Not one bit.

Horrible all over.

 

[Gardenista]

Sri Lanka bans face coverings to prevent terrorists covering up their identity after Easter bombings | Daily Mail Online

 

[Gardenista]

Terrorists may be plotting Sri Lanka-style attacks at tourist destinations: report

https://nypost.com/2019/04/28/terro...style-attacks-at-tourist-destinations-report/

 

[ZaZara]

Privacy settings

Five Sri Lankans suspected of involvement in the bloody attacks in their homeland on Easter Sunday have been extradited. The Sri Lankan police and Interpol report this. They were arrested in an unspecified country in the Middle East and taken via Saudi Arabia to Sri Lanka.

One of the five men is 29-year-old Ahamed Milhan Hayathu Mohamed, one of the main suspects sought on suspicion of terrorism and murder. According to the Sri Lankan police, he is a leader of the jihadist National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) movement, which is held responsible for the attacks in Sri Lanka.

During the attacks on 21 April, suicide bombers blew themselves up in three churches and three hotels in the city of Colombo. A total of 258 people died.


BBM

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Cardinal Ranjith lights a candle at a memorial for the victims of the Easter Sunday bombings

“We consider that finding justice and revealing the truth is a national service that we can do to our country, because we are a minority religion in Sri Lanka.”

Fr. Julian Patrick Perera, a secretary to the legal team of the Archdiocese of Colombo, offered that assessment of the local Church’s efforts to find and prosecute the perpetrators of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

On 21 April 2019, terrorist bombers attacked two Catholic churches, an evangelical Christian church, and three luxury hotels, as well as a housing complex and a guest house.

The eight suicide bombers, whom the government alleged were linked to the so-called Islamic State, killed 261 people in the coordinated attacks.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, has questioned the government’s narrative of attacks and has consistently called for an international investigation.

Allegations of a cover up​

In an interview with Vatican News to mark the fourth anniversary of the tragedy, Fr. Perera lamented the lack of justice for the Easter Sunday bombings, saying there has been “no proper investigation completed on the whole issue”.

He noted there appears to be evidence of a cover-up, pointing to the removal of several key investigators from the case.

“There is also a kind of an eyewash lawsuit that has been brought against about 25 members of the so-called terrorist movement. But those charges are very surface level,” said Fr. Perera, adding that law experts believe that a case consisting of 23,000 charges can never be credibly brought to trial.

“How can you bring 23,000 charges into question and cross-examine so many hundreds of people?” he wondered. “So, you can see that there is a very clear cover up in the first place.”

Sri Lankan Church still seeking justice for 2019 Easter Sunday bombings - Vatican News

As Sri Lankan Christians mark four years since the Easter Sunday bombings which killed 261 people, the local Church continues to allege a cover-up and ...

www.vaticannews.va