Security personnel stand guard in front of St Anthony's Shrine, days after a string of suicide bomb attacks across the island on Easter Sunday, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Interpol announced on Friday June 14 that it had arrested one of the main suspects in the jihadist attacks on luxury hotels and churches in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. The attacks killed 258 people.
The international organization for police cooperation Interpol announced this Friday, June 14 the arrest and extradition of one of those responsible for the bloody attacks of April 21 in Sri Lanka .
Ahamed Milhan Hayathu Mohamed, a 29-year-old Sri Lankan , was arrested along with four other suspects in an unidentified country in the Middle East, following the publication by Interpol of a “red notice” , according to a statement.
Arrested in Saudi Arabia
According to police sources in Colombo, the five men were arrested in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia . The latter presented Milhan as “a senior official” of the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), the jihadist organization suspected of being behind the attacks.
The attacks, carried out on eight different sites, left 258 dead and nearly 500 injured . Suicide bombers blew themselves up in luxury hotels and Christian churches in the midst of celebrating Easter Mass.
“An important step in the investigation”
The jihadist organization Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for these attacks , carried out by Sri Lankan Islamists. “The arrest and extradition of one of the key suspects in the bomb attacks in Sri Lanka is an important step in the investigation,” said the secretary general of the organization Jürgen Stock, quoted in the report. communicated.
Immediately after the attacks, the Lyon-based police organization deployed a dedicated team to help local authorities, which remained in place until May 22.
This team (Incident Response Team) included experts in counterterrorism, explosives and victim identification. It also made it possible to compare in real time the data collected on site with the information contained in the Interpol databases.
Last month, the Sri Lankan authorities announced the arrest of two suspects in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
More Stories
Attacks in Sri Lanka. Police chief refuses to leave despite president’s injunction
Sri Lanka. 140 people wanted, a shooting in the east of the country
Sri Lanka. Wave of attacks in hotels and churches on Easter Day: more than 200 dead