Attacks in Sri Lanka: the brain participated in one of the attacks and terrorists trained in the gyms – 26/04/2019

For years, the Muslim community of Sri Lanka warned the authorities of the danger Mohamed Zahran Hashim and his incendiary sermons against all those who do not agree with his rigorous ideology. Unfortunately for many, their opinions have not been taken seriously. Now the authorities of this Asian nation claim that this man has played a key role in the series of attacks that have left 250 dead and 500 wounded on Easter Sunday in churches and hotels on the island. He was himself one of the suicides.

Hashim, head of the national Islamic group Towheed Jamaat and known for his fiery extremist speeches on social networks, died in one of the nine suicide bombings, the police said on his official Twitter account.

"The intelligence services have learned that Zahran was dead during the Shangri-La (Hotel) attack," Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said Friday. According to him, the coup d 'état was accompanied by a second suicide bomber, identified as Ilham Ibrahim, information obtained through the security camera recordings. This second terrorist he is one of the two children of a rich local businessman. dedicated to the trade of spices that blew up last Sunday.

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The country's security forces have been following Hashim for days, about 40 years old, after the government appointed the group it was heading, the National Thowheeth Jama (ATJ), as the main suspect. This is the same man who appears in the video published by ISIS when on Tuesday, they claimed responsibility for the attack, in which he is seen with seven other people – all but his face-covered – allegiance to the president of this extremist group, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.

Raised in the city of Kattankudy, where Muslims abound in a Buddhist-dominated country, Hashim quickly became famous in his community by the radical of their positions. On the Internet, he has managed to attract many subscribers to social networks such as Facebook or YouTube with his exalted speeches.

Hilmy Ahmed, vice president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, told Agence France Press that he had expressed his concerns about Zahran Hashim to local authorities three years ago. "This person was a loner and had radicalized the youth on the pretext that he had given them Koranic clbades," he said.

It was in 2014, after being expelled as a mosque imam for his extremist views, when he founded the NTJ group. At first, these followers of the Wahhabi branch were known by vandalism actions against Buddha statues or to attack Sufi Muslims, whom they regard as heretics. But at a time that remains unknown, some of them decided to make the jump. The investigation still focuses on the extent to which ISIS provided badistance, although Ahmed ensured that in the community it was known that the group leader I have had relationships with people from abroad.

The Sri Lankan president said Friday that the authorities had detected the presence on the island of at least 130 suspicious persons have links with ISIS.

The government has "information" on the presence of 130 to 140 people related to the group, and those who have not been arrested will still be "very soon," said the president.

How they formed

Investigators determined that insurgent training for badailants was provided by a person whom they called Mohideen Army, while training with weapons was carried out abroad and in parts of the eastern province of the country, according to the police.

Suicides they had exercised in a local gym The authorities added that the vehicles used in the attacks were purchased from a dealer in Kadawatha, a suburb of the Colombian capital, Kadawatha.

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The worker at a copper factory who had been arrested in connection with the attacks had helped Mohideen to make explosive devices and bought empty cartridges that the Sri Lankan army sold as scrap, authorities said.

For his part, the Australian Prime Minister confirmed earlier Friday that the attackers had received support from the ISIS extremist group.

Sri Lankan President Sirisena blamed the Sri Lankan secretary of defense, who resigned on Thursday, and the police chief, who also resigned, for not sharing Weeks of information collected by international intelligence agencies on plans of attack before the tragedy.

Increased security

In Colombo, we could see him on Friday a noticeable increase in security while authorities warned of another attack and prosecuted suspects likely to have access to explosives. The authorities informed the Muslims that pray at home instead of going to the mosque the most important day of the week for the faithful: the Friday of prayer.

In a mosque in the capital where the faithful have gathered, Agents armed with Kalashnikov badault rifles stood guard outside, and armed soldiers also guarded the San Antonio Temple, one of the three churches attackedand the nearby shops have been closed.

Fernando Gration 's opened to see the church after leaving his nearby store, and said that, like other compatriots, he was worried about new attacks.

"There is no security to go to church," he said, adding that "children are now afraid to go to church".

On Thursday night, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health revised down estimates of the number of deaths during attacks. In a statement, it was explained that there were "about" 253 deaths, or nearly a third less than the 359 reported previously.

Source: AP and La Vanguardia