Two government officials provided The Washington Post with a three-page report issued on April 11 in which a senior police official warned of potential suicide attacks by Thowheeth Jamaath against well-attended Catholic churches.
By Amantha Perera and Joanna Slater Joanna Slater Foreign correspondent covering South Asia Email Bio Follow April 22 at 2:08 PM COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — An obscure local Islamist extremist group carried out the serial blasts that killed at least 290 people in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, a government minister said Monday, and senior security officials received advance intelligence that the group might target churches with suicide bombers.
Some of the arrests took place at a large home in the Dematagoda neighborhood of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital. The home belongs to the family of the alleged leader of Thowheeth Jamaath, according to a police official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Right now, they are searching everywhere for possible bombs and people involved,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
The group was “planning suicide attacks” that could target churches and also the Indian High Commission, Priyalal Dassanayake warned in the document. In a Facebook video of an older speech, reposted recently, the leader said there were three kinds of people — those who follow Islam, those who are friends of Islam and those who should be killed.
The report has become a weapon in the bitter rivalry between Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister, who represent separate parties.
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