Sri Lankan authorities were warned about possible attacks: Reports
Colombo, Apr 24 (IBNS): Indian intelligence services had warned Sri Lankan officials before the eight blasts that rocked the Island nation on Easter Sunday, media reports said on Wednesday.
Early warnings from India's intelligence services to Sri Lankan officials ahead of the Easter Sunday bombings were based on information gleaned from an ISIS suspect, CNN reported.
Delhi passed on unusually specific intelligence in the weeks and days leading up to the attacks, Sri Lankan officials have said, and at least some of it was gleaned from material obtained during interrogations of an ISIS suspect arrested in India, an Indian official told CNN.
23) #ISIS 'Amaq News Agency releases a 59-second video showing #SriLanka attackers pledging to #ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The video shows eight men pledging together, led by Zahran Hashim, the suspected "mastermind" of the attacks. https://t.co/lXXIAAdBXB pic.twitter.com/kd4r2m1ej6
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) April 23, 2019
As per the news report, the suspect gave investigators the name of a man he trained in Sri Lanka, who is associated with a local extremist group implicated in the bombings, the source said. The man, Zahran Hashim, was identified in a video of the purported attackers released Tuesday by ISIS, which claimed responsibility for the Easter Sunday killings.
Ending all speculations, Islamic State on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the Sri Lankan blasts which left 321 people killed.
As per Site intelligence group website: "Through its 'Amaq News Agency, the Islamic State (IS) claimed credit for the Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka."
So far, 40 people have been arrested in connection in the incidents.
As per Sri Lankan government's website: "The death toll from multiple bomb explosions that targeted churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday rose to 321 with some of the injured at hospitals succumbing to their injuries overnight.Around 500 people were wounded in the blasts, and some of them are still receiving treatments at hospitals."
Police media spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara told the news portal that the police have arrested 40 suspects in connection with the bomb attacks.
All of the individuals arrested are Sri Lankans.
"Six Bombs exploded at the St. Anthony's Church in Kochchikade, St. Sebastian's Church in Katuwapitiya, Katana, and Zion Church in Batticaloa while hotels Kingsbury, Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grands came under attack. A Seventh bomb exploded near the National Zoo in Dehiwala," read a statement issued by the Sri Lankan government website.
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