The multiple suicide bomb attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on April 21 Easter Sunday is retaliation for the gunman attack in mosques in New Zealand, Sri Lankan State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene said in Parliament on April 23, reports Colombo Page. He said in parliament that the initial investigation has revealed that this was in retaliation for the New Zealand mosque attack. The Minister said that further investigations are being carried out and the National Thawheed Jama'ut (NTJ) believed to be responsible for the attacks has close connections with a local Islamic militant Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim (JMI). "It was done by National Thawheed Jama'ut along with JMI," the Minister said.
The Minister also said that urgent measures should be taken to ban such Islamic extremist organizations and bring their members before the law. He said that immediate action should be taken against all the extremist groups operating in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the immovable and movable property belonging to them should be confiscated, he added. Pointing out that such an action only can protect national security, the Minister said the Muslim community in the country should not be looked at suspiciously because of the cowardly actions of such extremist groups.