Lanka brings 5 bomb suspects back from Mideastern country

The threat of more attacks has been contained and security services have dismantled most of network linked to the blasts.

Authorities

These are the five remaining leaders of the April 21 terrorist group.

Police spokesman

COLOMBO — Five Sri Lankans suspected of having links to Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people were brought home in police custody on Friday after being deported from a Middle Eastern country, police said.

Police declined to provide details of the arrests beyond saying the five were picked up in a Middle Eastern country and were sent back, in the custody of Sri Lankan police.

“These are the five remaining leaders of the April 21 terrorist group,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told reporters.

The coordinated militant suicide bomb attacks on hotels and churches sent shockwaves through the Indian Ocean island state that had enjoyed relative peace since a civil war ended a decade ago.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks that authorities said were carried out by two littleknown domestic groups — the National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim.

Police declined to give information about the nature of the five suspects’ roles in the attacks but said one of them, identified as Mohamed Milhan, was a senior member of the NTJ.

“He could have been the next leader,” Gunasekera said.

Authorities have arrested more than 2,000 people in connection with the attacks. While courts have released most of them on bail, 634 remain in detention.

Authorities say the threat of more attacks has been contained and the security services have dismantled most of the network linked to the bombings.

Last month, army chief Mahesh Senanayake said two suspects were arrested in two Gulf states. He did not disclose the nationalities of the suspects, but official sources said they were Sri Lankans.

There have been recriminations over the failure on the part of police and security forces to act on advance warnings of the impending attacks.

Top intelligence and police officers have told a parliamentary panel investigating security failures that the attack was avoidable had the authorities acted on intelligence provided by neighbouring India.

India had on April 4 warned Sri Lankan authorities that a suspect in their custody had revealed detailed plans to stage a deadly attack in Sri Lanka targeting Christian churches among others.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also the minister of defence and law and order, has sacked his intelligence chief, secured the resignation of the defence secretary and suspended the police chief after blaming them for the attacks.

They in turn have said Sirisena ignored security protocols and should take the blame for the major lapses that allowed the suicide attacks. —