A soldier stands guard St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo following a series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan authorities announced on Friday that they are looking for 140 people suspected of having links with the jihadist group Islamic State. On Friday, a shooting erupted in eastern Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan police are looking for 140 people suspected of links to the Islamic State (IS) , five days after the attacks claimed by the jihadist group that killed 253 people on Sunday in the island, announced on Friday. President Maithripala Sirisena.
On Friday, a shootout broke out in eastern Sri Lanka between security forces and armed men, during an operation in Ampara Sainthamaruthu, near Batticaloa. An army spokesperson said that soldiers sent to the scene after an explosion came under fire. It is not known whether there are any casualties.
10,000 troops deployed
Muslims on the island have been urged to stay in their homes to pray on Friday, fearing reprisals after the Easter Sunday massacre in churches and hotels. The United States Embassy in Colombo has called on American nationals on the island to avoid places of prayer on weekends. Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Ranjith, fearing further attacks, announced that no Catholic mass would be celebrated in churches across the country on Sunday.
The streets of the capital were deserted on Friday evening. Nearly 10,000 soldiers have been deployed to the island to search for suspects and ensure the security of places of worship, the army said. Since Sunday, the police have arrested 76 people, including nationals from Syria and Egypt.
Resignation of the Minister of Defense
The suicide bombings which targeted three churches and four hotels on Sunday exposed the failings of the intelligence services, cooperation between services having been, according to some, disrupted by tensions in the upper echelons of power.
Defense Minister Hemasiri Fernando tendered his resignation, assuming that the attacks could not be prevented, even though, he said, authorities took action after being warned by the India of the imminent attacks.
A video released on the internet on Tuesday by Amaq, the IS propaganda body, shows eight men who pledge allegiance to the “caliph” of the jihadist group, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, and swear to obey him in all circumstances. IS has presented the men as the suicide bombers responsible for Sunday’s attacks. Only one appears with his face uncovered: Mohamed Zahran , an Islamist preacher from the east of the island, who could be the “brain” of this wave of terror.
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