Sri Lanka bombings: Syrian among 40 suspects held over blasts that killed 310, injured hundreds more
- Country observes national day of mourning while the military uses civil war-era powers to bring in dozens for questioning
- No group has yet to claim responsibility for Easter Sunday’s suicide bomb attacks on three churches and four luxury hotels
Sri Lankans observed a national day of mourning on Tuesday as government and military sources confirmed they were holding a Syrian national in custody for questioning over the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels.
“The terrorist investigation division of the police arrested a Syrian national following the attacks for interrogation,” one source said. Two other officials with knowledge of the investigation confirmed the detention. “He was arrested after interrogation of local suspects,” a second source said.
No group has yet to claim responsibility for Easter Sunday’s suicide bomb attacks on three churches and four luxury hotels that killed 310 people and wounded about 500 people.
Police earlier said 40 people were now under arrest over the suicide bomb attacks – the worst atrocity since Sri Lanka’s civil war ended a decade ago, and the worst ever against the country’s small Christian minority, who make up just seven per cent of its 21 million population.
Investigators were also hunting for clues on whether the local Islamist group named as the chief suspect – National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) – received “international support”, said cabinet minister and government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne.
The spokesman added that it was not possible for such “a small organisation” to carry out such well coordinated suicide strikes.
President Maithripala Sirisena’s office said there was intelligence that “international terror groups” were “behind local terrorists” and that he would seek foreign help to investigate.