ISIS claims responsibility for Sri Lanka massacre
The ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for killing and wounding hundreds of people in Sri Lanka, saying the attacks were an act against “nationals of the anti-ISIS coalition countries and Christians.” The death toll has reached 321.
The Amaq news agency, affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group, said the attacks on Sunday, April 21, were carried out by members of the group. The terrorist group did not release any evidence to support this claim.
The Sri Lankan government had previously identified an Islamist group called the National Thowheed Jamaat as the perpetrator of this crime, but the group has not yet responded to this accusation.
The suicide bombings, which took place at three churches and three hotels in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, and the city of Negombo, killed 321 people and injured about 500. 45 of the victims were children.
A number of those killed and injured were citizens of Australia, the United States, Britain, Portugal, Turkey, Denmark, Japan, France, the Netherlands and India.
According to Sri Lankan security officials, two of the suicide bombers were brothers and members of the National Thowheed Jamaat, who had formed a terrorist cell from their family members. They were under 30 years old and their father was a wealthy spice merchant.
The two brothers had rented rooms at the Shangri-La and Cinema Grand hotels on Saturday and blew themselves up in the breakfast line on Sunday morning.
It is still unclear what connection they had with the other suicide bombers.
Police have so far arrested 40 people in this connection.
A bomb that exploded later.
The AFP news agency, citing investigators, reported that another hotel was also targeted by the attackers, but the bomber's bomb failed to detonate on Sunday. It was not clear whether the failure was intentional or the terrorist experienced a technical problem.
After being chased by police, the man blew himself up and killed two passersby.
On Monday, police officers discovered a car bomb near one of the churches that had been attacked. The car exploded while the bomb was being defused.
87 bomb detonators have also been discovered in Colombo.
Source: DW
