Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Sri Lanka Bombings Terror group’s video shows what it says are Easter attackers, as authorities search for accomplices, weapons By Niharika Mandhana and Jon Emont
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sri-lanka-bombings-linked-to-new-zealand-mosque-shootings-government-says-11556009023
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Easter bombings that killed more than 300 people in Sri Lanka, and posted a video that it said showed the suicide bombers, dressed in black robes, declaring their loyalty to the group.
“The executors of the attack that targeted citizens of coalition states and Christians in Sri Lanka two days ago were Islamic State fighters,” Islamic State said, according to SITE, a security consulting firm that tracks militant groups.
Hours earlier, Sri Lanka’s defense minister said the government had information indicating the plotters were reacting to last month’s terrorist attack in New Zealand, but the prime minister later Tuesday made clear no direct link had been established.
“It’s possible it could have been because of Christchurch,” said Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. “We don’t know.”
The prime minister said there could be additional attackers still at large, some armed with explosives.
If it is confirmed that Sunday’s suicide bombings were orchestrated or carried out by Islamic State militants, it would be among the deadliest terrorist attacks attributed to the group outside Iraq, alongside a 2017 assault on a mosque in Egypt. Islamic State has previously claimed attacks in which governments have later said they found no evidence of the group’s involvement.
Sri Lanka’s government has said it received warnings from security officials in India and the U.S. on April 4 that they had picked up indications that attacks were being planned in Sri Lanka. While those warnings didn’t include the name of a group, Sri Lankan security officials linked them to a local radical group, National Thowheeth Jamath, in a circular it distributed to police authorities on April 9.
A senior police official involved with the probes said authorities were casting a wide net to identify accomplices and members of the attackers’ network. Investigators were building on intelligence received before the attacks containing names of suspected extremists planning to target places of religious worship, the official said. The official death toll rose to at least 321 on Tuesday.
The Sri Lankan government said there were seven suicide bombers and has identified all as Sri Lankan. Since the attacks, telephone records of those identified in the intelligence report were used to map out names and addresses of people they called. Authorities located a number of houses in and around Colombo that were used for short periods to plan the attack. Those places are now being monitored for new clues or suspects, the official said.
The official said authorities are receiving complaints from concerned locals about the presence of foreigners from Muslim-majority Pakistan and Bangladesh living near the affected areas, making it difficult to separate genuine leads from those fueled by fear.
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