They said investigators had determined that the assailants’ military training was provided by someone they called “Army Mohideen,” and that weapons training had taken place overseas and at some locations in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province.

Who is Zahran Hashim, the cleric linked to Sri Lanka bombings?

Police also said that the attackers had worked out at a local gym and by playing soccer using their authentic national identity cards. They added that the vehicles used in the attack were bought from a car showroom in Kadawatha, a suburb of Colombo.

They said that the operator of a copper factory who was arrested in connection with the bombings had helped Mohideen make improvised explosive devices and purchase empty cartridges sold by the Sri Lankan military as scrap copper.

Meanwhile, shooting erupted between security forces and a group of men in the island nation’s Eastern Province during a search and cordon operation related to the attacks, a military spokesman said.

The raid took place in the town of Ampara Sainthamaruthu near Batticaloa. The spokesman said there was an explosion in the area and when soldiers went to investigate they were fired upon. No details of casualties were immediately available.

Australia’s Prime Minister said on Friday that it had been confirmed that the Sri Lanka attackers were supported by Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the massacre, distributing video of Zahran and others pledging allegiance to the withered caliphate.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena told reporters that some 140 people in the island nation had been identified as having links to Islamic State, and that the Sri Lankan government has “the capability “to completely control IS activities” in the country.

“We will completely control this and create a free and peaceful environment for people to live,” he said.

Sri Lanka bomber studied in UK and Australia, defence minister says

Across Colombo, there was a visible increase of security as authorities warned of another attack and pursued suspects that could have access to explosives.

Armed police and sniffer dogs guarded mosques as Muslims trickled to Friday prayers, with many staying away over fears of revenge attacks.

Some mosques cancelled prayers, and Sri Lanka’s Muslim affairs minister called on Muslims to pray at home instead, in solidarity with churches that have closed over security fears.

Other Muslims have expressed fears that they could be targeted by Islamist hardliners, after the community’s religious leadership said the attackers would not be buried at mosques in the country.

Among mosques that did hold prayers on Friday in Colombo, attendance was thin, with some of the few worshippers who did show up saying they wanted to stand up to extremists.

“We are sending a message to extremists that we will not be scared or deterred,” said Reyyaz Salley, chairman of the Dawatagaha Jumma mosque.

“But the main reason we are here is because we want to say a special prayer for the victims of the church bombings,” he added.

Armed soldiers also stood guard outside St. Anthony’s Shrine, one of the three churches attacked on Easter and the Archbishop of Colombo said there will be no Sunday Masses until further notice.

Gration Fernando crossed himself when he looked at the church after walking out of his shop there. Fernando says he, like other Sri Lankans, was worried about further attacks.

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There is “no security, no safety to go to church,” he said, adding that “now children are scared to go to church” as well.

Late on Thursday, Sri Lanka’s health ministry lowered the death toll from the attacks by over 100 to 253.

In revising the number of fatalities down from the widely reported figure of 359, the ministry cited counting difficulty “since during bomb explosions like these, some bodies of the deceased are gravely damaged while some are severed into body parts, which cannot be identified as complete bodies.”

The ministry, in a statement, said it only ever reported 290 dead at the most, not 359 which came from other sources.

The government fears its lucrative tourism industry could see arrivals drop up to 30 per cent, with losses of $1.5 billion this year, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said on Friday.

Samaraweera said the country could take up to two years to fully recover and he was hoping to unveil a package of concessions to help the tourism sector weather the impact of the suicide bombings.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse