admin
Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bombings were retaliation for a recent attack on mosques in New Zealand, the country’s state minister of defence Ruwan Wijewardene said.
Wijewardene made the comment to politicians in parliament on Tuesday without providing evidence or explaining where the information came from about the attacks that killed 321 people.
“The preliminary investigations have revealed that what happened in Sri Lanka was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch, but we are continuing investigations,” Wijewardene said.
Fifty people were killed in shooting attacks on two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch on March 15.
The office of New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she is aware of comments linking the bombings to the mosque attacks in Christchurch, though it hasn’t “seen any intelligence upon which such an assessment might be based”.
A little-known Muslim organisation, National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ), has been linked to the worst attacks on the Indian Ocean nation since its civil war ended a decade ago.
Wijewardene said that along with NTJ, another local group, Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim (JMI) was also believed to be involved in the attacks.
Wijewardene also blamed “weakness” within Sri Lanka’s security apparatus for failing to prevent the coordinated bombings.
“By now it has been established that the intelligence units were aware of this attack and a group of responsible people were informed about the impending attack,” Wijewardene said. “However, this information has been circulated among only a few officials.”
Meanwhile, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS) on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attacks but provided no evidence.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said at a news conference he believed the Easter day attacks had links to ISIL, and the government’s security agencies were monitoring Sri Lankans who had joined the armed group in Iraq and Syria and returned home.
“We will be following up on IS claims, we believe there may be links,” he said.
At least 40 people have been arrested in connection with the attacks and a state of emergency has been imposed, giving police extensive powers to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders.
Among the dozens of the detained were the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide attackers and the owner of a house where some of them lived.
As a community, we should have some introspection and see how these groups have come into being.
A prominent Muslim organisation in Sri Lanka said all perpetrators should be brought to justice, adding it was ready to assist the victims of the blasts.
“We do not have information to make a comment about that [the accusations]. But as a community, we should have some introspection and see how these groups have come into being,” NM Ameen, the president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, said. “From what we know, it is a small radicalised Muslim organisation that has caused these devastations. We do not have enough information to say it has global links,” Ameen said.
On Tuesday, Sri Lanka began a national day of mourning with three minutes of silence for the victims.
More than 500 people have been wounded, including 375 who are still being treated in hospital.
– Al Jazeera
Online Reporter