Colombo: The Islamic State Tuesday claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka as the death toll in the Easter Sunday bloodbath touched 321, including 10 Indians, with over 500 injured.
The Islamic State’s claim came as the country held a mass funeral for some of the victims at a sprawling grave near the St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, around 40 km north of Colombo, where mourners struggled to hold back their tears.
An Arabic language statement on the group’s official al-Amaq news agency made the claim on the encrypted messaging app, saying the suicide bombers were ‘fighters of the Islamic State’.
“The perpetrators of the attack that targeted nationals of the crusader alliance (anti-IS US-led coalition) and Christians in Sri Lanka were Islamic State fighters,” the brief message said.
Tuesday’s statement came after an unconfirmed video posted to social media by an affiliated group suggested that the Islamic State was behind the Easter horror. That video showed photos of three of the alleged suicide bombers.
The men, who are described as ‘assailants’ rather than the more common ‘martyrs’, were named as Abul Barra, Abul Mukhtar and Abu Ubaida and featured in front of a black IS flag giving the one-finger salute.
Authorities have so far named a Sri Lankan Muslim group, the National Thowheed Jamath (NJT), for the bombings but said the mayhem would not have been possible minus international support.
Earlier in the day, Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said the Easter attacks were a ‘retaliation’ for last month’s Christchurch mosque shooting that left 50 Muslims dead and were blamed on a white supermacist from Australia.
The Minister put the latest death toll in Sri Lanka at 321.
The Islamic State’s and the Defence Minister’s claim give an international dimension to the Sunday carnage that killed mostly Sri Lankans but also some 35 foreigners, including from the US and other Western countries as well as 10 Indians.
The police have detained 40 suspects in connection with the attacks. Reports said they include a Syrian who was caught after the interrogation of local suspects.
The government has suggested that seven suicide bombers were involved in the bombings.
A CCTV video showed one of them, a young man wearing a sky blue shirt and jeans and carrying a backpack, casually walking into an Easter congregation in a church where he blew himself up.
IANS
