COLOMBO: Five Sri Lankans suspected to have links to Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people were brought home on Friday from Saudi Arabia. They are in police custody now, police said.
“These are the five remaining leaders of the April 21 terrorist group,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told the press. The coordinated Islamist militant suicide bomb attacks on hotels and churches shook the country that had enjoyed relative peace since a civil war ended a decade ago. Islamic State (ISIS) claimed the responsibility for the attacks.
Two little-known domestic groups – the National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim carried out the attacks on behalf of ISIS. Sri Lankan authorities have already arrested more than 2,000 people in connection with the attacks. While courts have released most of them on bail, 634 still remain in detention. (Agencies)
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