Two brothers carried out two of the hotel suicide blasts in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, part of a wave of bombings that killed more than 321 persons, Police sources said on April 23, reports Colombo Page. The brothers, sons of a wealthy Colombo spice trader, blew themselves up as guests queued for breakfast at the Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels in the capital, Colombo, the source said. An attack on a fourth hotel failed and helped lead Police to the Islamist group now blamed for the assault, they added.
The brothers, whose names have not been revealed, were in their late twenties and operated their own "family cell", an investigation officer said. But it was not clear what ties they had to the other bombers involved in the devastating attacks against three high-end hotels and three churches. The pair were key members of the National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) which the government has blamed for the attacks, the official added.
The whereabouts of the brothers' parents was unknown. But the blasts had a further impact on the family. One brother gave false identity details when he checked into the hotel, the investigator said. The other gave a real address which led police commandos to their family home in a commercial area of Colombo. "When the Special Task Force went there to investigate, one brother's wife set off explosives killing herself and her two children," the officer said. "It was a single terror cell operated by one family," the investigator said. "They had the cash and the motivation. They operated the cell and it is believed they influenced their extended family." Three police commandos were killed in the blast, and several extended family members are among those in detention. The brothers had been involved in their father's lucrative spice export business, investigators said.
One brother checked into the Cinnamon Grand hotel and the other the Shangri-La on April 20. The next morning on April 21, at virtually the same time, they went to the hotels' Easter Sunday breakfast buffets and blew up explosives-laden backpacks, the officer said. Another bomb tore through a restaurant at the nearby Kingsbury hotel. Minutes before, similar explosions devastated three churches. Investigators said it was not known whether the brothers were in contact with the other bombers.
Another would-be suicide bomber walked into a fourth luxury hotel in Colombo on April 21, official sources said. "This man had also checked into the hotel the previous day," the source said. It was not known if his explosives failed or he had a change of heart. But after the Shangri-la blast, staff at the unnamed hotel became suspicious and the man was tracked to a lodging near the capital. He blew himself up there when confronted by Police, the source said. Two bystanders were also killed. "What we have seen from the CCTV footage is that all the suicide bombers were carrying very heavy backpacks. These appear to be crude devices made locally," the source said.