- As Sri Lankan Government to Rebuild Church after Bomb Attacks
Time Nigeria with Agency report
The Islamic State group on Tuesday claimed a series of bombings that killed more than 320 people in Sri Lanka, and released a photo and video of the men it said were responsible.
The massive casualty toll would make the Easter Sunday attacks the deadliest overseas operation claimed by IS since the group proclaimed its caliphate in mid-2014.
“Those that carried out the attack that targeted members of the US-led coalition and Christians in Sri Lanka the day before yesterday are Islamic State group fighters,” IS propaganda agency Amaq said in a statement.
In a later statement, the group gave the names of seven people it said were behind the “blessed attack” that targeted Christians during their “blasphemous holiday”.
Sunday’s bombings targeting churches and high-end hotels are among the deadliest such attacks worldwide since the 2001 strikes on the United States.
According to the report, “The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday blamed the little-known National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) Islamist group for the blasts, saying they were carried out in retaliation for last month’s attacks on two mosques in New Zealand.
“The presidency cited intelligence saying “international terror groups” were backing Sri Lankan extremists.
Police sources told AFP Tuesday that two Muslim brothers — sons of a wealthy Colombo spice trader — were among the perpetrators of the attacks.”
It further stated that, “They blew themselves up as guests queued for breakfast at the Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels in the capital, the source said.
“The pair was key members of the NTJ, which the government has previously blamed for defacing Buddhist statues, according to an investigation officer.”
The report added, “The IS statement on Tuesday said three fighters it named as Abu Obeidah, Abu Baraa and Abu Moukhtar were behind the attacks on the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury hotels.
“Three other fighters it named as Abu Hamza, Abu Khalil and Abu Mohammad carried out attacks on churches in the cities of Colombo, Negombo, and Batticaloa, it said.
“The seventh fighter, Abu Abdallah, killed three police officers in an attack in a Colombo suburb, it said.
“Tuesday’s claim comes one month after a Kurdish-led Syrian force announced the fall of IS’s self-declared “caliphate”, after routing jihadists from their last holdout in east Syria with backing from a US-led coalition.
“The jihadists retain a global network of recruits and have claimed attacks in Iraq, Syria and beyond.
“On Sunday, IS claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 10 people in the Afghan capital Kabul the previous day. Ethnic and religious violence has plagued Sri Lanka for decades, with a 37-year conflict with Tamil rebels followed by an upswing in recent years of clashes between the Buddhist majority and Muslims.”
Meanwhile Sri Lankan Muslim groups and other groups across the world have condemned the Easter Sunday attacks. It concluded.
In a related development, the Sri Lankan government has promised to rebuild St Anthony’s church after bomb attacks.
This according to the Sri Lankan culture minister, Sajith Premadasa, has said that the government pledged to rebuild the Roman Catholic church, St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, which was badly damaged in the Easter Sunday bombings. Hundreds of people were injured and 321 people died in the coordinated wave of attacks across the country; an Islamic terrorist group is responsible according to security officials.
According to Local press reports say that following investigations by the security forces, the Sri Lankan government will begin rebuilding St. Anthony’s church under the supervision of Cardinal Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo. The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organisation based in Connecticut, has also pledged $100,000 towards “the rebuilding and repair of [the] Christian community in the aftermath of this act of terrorism”. St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo and the Zion Church in Batticaloa were also bombed.
Crowdfunding campaigns have been launched by individual supporters though these have so far raised limited amounts. “Weʼre
[trying to raise]
£600,000 to support the victims of the Sri Lanka terror attacks and restoration of the churches involved. Notre Dame raised £600m in 24 hours,” says one such campaigner, Jake Margrain. After the fire at the medieval landmark last week in Paris, billionaires and businesses lined up to back the rebuilding campaign.