An initial probe into the deadly suicide bomb attacks, which killed 321 people and injured about 500 others, shows it was “retaliation for Christchurch,” the country’s deputy defense minister said earlier Tuesday.
“The preliminary investigations have revealed that what happened in Sri Lanka (on Sunday) was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch,” state minister of defence Ruwan Wijewardene told parliament.
Fifty people were killed in shooting attacks on two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch on March 15.
Wijewardene said investigations showed that a local group called National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) was behind the attack and was linked to a little-known radical Islamist group in India.
“This National Thowheeth Jamaath group which carried out the attacks had close links with JMI it has now been revealed,” Wijewardene told parliament, in an apparent reference to a group known as Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India.
A state of emergency took effect Tuesday giving the military war-time powers, police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by suicide bombers and the owner of a house where some of them lived, officials said.
Daesh has claimed responsibility for the bombings, the group’s propaganda agency AMAQ reported, but have not provided any evidence.
Sources said police are holding a Syrian national in custody for questioning over attacks, Reuters reported.
“The terrorist investigation division of the police arrested a Syrian national following the attacks for interrogation,” a source said. Two other officials with knowledge of the investigation confirmed the detention.
“He was arrested after interrogation of local suspects,” a second source said.
Sri Lanka’s president gave the military a wider berth to detain and arrest suspects — powers that were used during the 26-year civil war but withdrawn when it ended in 2009.
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