According to Sri Lankan Police, the death toll in the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka has risen to 359 on April 24, reports The Hindu.
Meanwhile, one of the nine suicide bombers that detonated explosives on Easter Sunday was a woman, State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene said on April 24, reports Daily Mirror. The Minister’s comment came after Police confirmed that nine suicide bombers were involved in the blasts and eight have been identified. It has been revealed that one of the suicide bombers had studied in Britain and Australia, report said. SATP earlier had reported that seven suicide bombers were killed in the attacks.
Two suspects involved in the deadly Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka were Islamic State (IS) returnees from Syria and Iraq, investigators have found, reports The Hindu on April 25. The suspects’ exact role in planning and executing the ghastly serial bombings remains unclear, but Sri Lankan intelligence has established that the two young men were IS-trained, said Colombo-based source who was part of a recent, high-level discussion on the attacks. “Now the pieces of the puzzle should start coming together,” the source said.
Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara on April 24 said that, “A total of 60 suspects have been arrested so far”. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is chiefly investigating the attacks, is interrogating at least 32 suspects now, while the rest are in custody at different Police stations. Investigators are also studying if suspects had been moving about in the region in the recent past, official sources said.
So far Sri Lanka’s investigating agencies have identified 139 persons as members of the National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) and associated groups and ‘traced all of them’, an official Colombo-based source said. “It is believed that not all of them are militant, but details of their possible role in the attacks are still emerging.”
Separately, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States (US) intelligence and law enforcement agency, will be assisting Sri Lanka in the investigations into the Easter Sunday bomb attacks on churches and hotels that killed 359 persons, reports Colombo Page. A spokesperson of the US Embassy in Colombo on April 24 confirmed to local media that the FBI will be providing technical assistance to the Sri Lankan Police investigating the attacks.
Also, the State Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, Dilip Wedaarachchi has given strict advice to the Ceylon Fishery Harbors Corporation and all the responsible officials to take immediate action to ensure the safety of all fisheries harbors with the assistance of the Security Forces (SFs), considering the situation at hand, reports Colombo Page. The Minister has ordered to take all necessary measures to fulfil this task with responsibility to assist the SFs with the operations following the Easter Sunday attacks as well as to strengthen the country's security.