15 dead in Sri Lanka raid on hideout
Six children among bodies found, bomb-making material, IS banners and uniforms seized
Six children among bodies found, bomb-making material, IS banners and uniforms seized
Troops retaliated and raided the safe house where a large cache of explosives had been stored. — Sumith Atapattu, Sri Lankan military spokesman
COLOMBO: The bodies of 15 people, including six children, were discovered at the site of a fierce overnight gun battle on the east coast of Sri Lanka, a military spokesman said yesterday, six days after suicide bombers killed more than 250 people on the island.
The shootout between troops and suspected Islamist militants erupted on Friday evening in Sainthamaruthu in Ampara district, to the south of the town of Batticaloa, site of one of the Easter Sunday blasts at three churches and four luxury hotels.
A police spokesman said that three suspected suicide bombers were among the 15 dead after the shootout.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for last Sunday’s attacks, all but one of which were in the capital, Colombo. The government has said they were carried out by nine well-educated Sri Lankans, eight of whom have been identified.
Authorities have warned there could be more attacks targeting religious centres following the bombings, which shattered the relative calm that Buddhistmajority Sri Lanka had enjoyed since a civil war against mostlyHindu ethnic Tamil separatists ended a decade ago.
The east coast battle broke out when troops heading towards a suspected militant safe house were repulsed by three explosions and gunfire, military spokesman Sumith Atapattu said.
“Troops retaliated and raided the safe house where a large cache of explosives had been stored,” he said in a statement.
He said the militants were suspected members of the domestic Islamist group National Towheed Jama’at (NTJ), which has been blamed for last Sunday’s attacks. Bomb-making materials, dozens of gelignite sticks and thousands of ball bearings were found in a search of a separate house in the same area along with Islamic State banners and uniforms, the military said.
Police said on Friday they were trying to track down 140 people they believe have links with Islamic State.
Nearly 10,000 soldiers have been deployed across the Indian Ocean island state to carry out searches and provide security for religious centres, the military said. Authorities have so far focused their investigations on international links to two domestic groups they believe carried out the attacks, NTJ and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim.
They have detained at least 76 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, in their investigations so far.
Twenty were arrested in the past 24 hours alone, they said.
In a separate raid on a mosque in Colombo, a suspect was arrested and a haul of 40 swords and kris knives were seized from under the bed of the chief cleric, police said.
Islamic State provided no evidence to back its claim that it was behind last Sunday’s blasts.
Muslims were urged to pray at home on Friday after the State Intelligence Services warned of possible car bomb attacks, amid fears of retaliatory violence. Many have fled their homes amid bomb scares, lockdowns and security sweeps. Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith told reporters he had seen an internal security document warning of further attacks on churches and said there would be no Catholic masses this Sunday anywhere on the island.
Officials have acknowledged a major lapse in not widely sharing intelligence warnings from India of possible attacks. — Reuters