The Islamic State has claimed
responsibility for the suicide bombings which led to deaths of 310 persons in
Sri Lanka.
Suicide bombers struck in
churches and hotels in the country on Easter Sunday.
In a statement carried by the
extremist group’s mouthpiece Amaq, the group said it targetted Christians and
Sri Lanka citizens.
“Those, who carried out the
attack that targeted the citizens of the coalition and Christians in Sri Lanka
the day before yesterday were Islamic State fighters,” Amaq reported on
Tuesday.
The statement referred to the
US-led coalition, which has been fighting the extremist group in Iraq and Syria
since it took over large areas in the two countries in 2014.
The death toll from multiple
suicide attacks at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka over the Easter weekend
rose to 321 on Tuesday, the national day of mourning for the victims.
Police said that the increase was
due to more people succumbing to injuries.
The bombings in Sri Lanka were
intended as retaliation for last month’s attack against Muslims in
Christchurch, according to initial investigations by the Sri Lankan government,
the deputy defence minister said.
“We believe [the massacre] was
carried out by an extreme Islamist group as a reprisal to the Christchurch
mosque massacre in New Zealand,” Ruwan Wijewardene, minister for defence, in a
statement to parliament.
“This group is known to have
links to an organisation named National Thowheed Jamath. We should take
immediate steps to ban any such organisation that have links to extremist
elements.”
Wijewardene’s comments came as
security forces and police searched the capital for a lorry and a van fitted
with explosives identified by police in an intelligence report.
“The search is in progress, but
nothing suspicious has been found so far,” a police officer said.
Police checked several
motorcycles, cars, unattended parcels and other locations.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
said in Geneva that 45 children were killed and dozens were injured in the
suicide attacks.
“No child should experience such
a heartbreaking situation and no parents should lose their child forever under
such horrible circumstances,” UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac said.
Three minutes of silence were
observed as more funerals of those killed in Sunday’s attacks took place.
Black and white flags were also
raised in most towns as symbols of mourning. The country has been under a state
of emergency since late Monday.
High security was being
maintained in Colombo and in Negombo, 35 kilometres bombings north of the
capital, where a mass burial took place close to a church where more than 110
people were killed.
The state of emergency gives
security forces special powers, including the right to search and arrest
individuals.
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