Sri Lanka: More arrests as death toll grows

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https://www.dw.com/en/sri-lanka-more-arrests-as-death-toll-grows/a-48454241

Sri Lanka: More arrests as death toll grows

Date 24.04.2019

Security forces in Sri Lanka used emergency powers to conduct overnight raids and detained 18 new suspects in connection with the deadly Easter Sunday bombings, officials said Wednesday.

Nearly 60 people have been detained since the attacks killed hundreds of churchgoers and hotel guests on Sunday.

The authorities also upped the death toll on Wednesday, saying that at least 359 people have lost their lives. Hundreds more remain in hospital.

Preliminary inquiries indicate a local Islamist group, National Thowfeek Jamaath, was behind the attack, and that the suicide blasts were conceived as retaliation for recent mosque shootings in New Zealand. The government also said the group likely had "international support" from larger terror networks.
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[nitpicker]

1. More from The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/24/sri-lanka-attacks-security-overhaul-bombers-still-free-isis

Sri Lanka attacker studied in UK, says minister, amid warning more bombers on loose

One of the Sri Lanka attackers studied in the UK and Australia before carrying out Sunday’s bombings, which may have been funded and inspired by Islamic State, the defence minister has said.
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Wijewardene confirmed that many of the bombers had international connections, having lived or studied abroad.
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Eighteen suspects were arrested overnight, bringing the total number detained to 58, said police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara, but Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, warned that several suspects armed with explosives were still on the loose. Up to nine people directly linked to the attack could still be at large, according to sources involved in the investigation.

Among those arrested in Tuesday’s round-up were six Pakistani refugees, including two women and two children. “Can you help us?” a Pakistan man asked from his cell at Katana police station, as a woman nearby flashed her UNHCR refugee identification.

The inspector at the station, MA Senavirathne, said CCTV cameras and telephone evidence had shown that the alleged bomber of St Sebastian’s church in Negombo may have visited the refugees at their home.

Also in the cell was the Sri Lankan landlord from whom they had been renting, who also lived at the property. His sister told the Guardian her brother had done nothing wrong. “They are saying the one who blasted [on Sunday] has come to his house, but this is not true at all,” she said. “He is a very innocent guy.”

The developments came as Sri Lanka’s president called for a massive security overhaul amid warnings that several suspects armed with explosives could still be at large.
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Wickremesinghe said there were more explosives and militants “out there”, and acknowledged there had been a prior warning about potential attacks. He also revealed there had been a failed attack against a fourth major hotel, and that the Indian embassy was also a possible target.
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