What is National Thowheeth Jama & ath, the unknown radical Islamist group that is accused of perpetrating the attacks in Sri Lanka?

In this context, have launched a series of suicide bombings in three Christian churches and three luxury hotels in the city of Colombo, through which they also hurt about 500 people, it seems like a dramatic turning point this group could be linked to the global jihadist movement.

The spokesman of the Sri Lankan government, Rajitha Senaratne, was charged with pointing out Monday that The NTJ was at the origin of Sunday's attacks, particularly angry against the country's Christian minority.

Authorities have arrested 24 people so far and Supporters of the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS) said in social networks that three terrorists of this faction participated in the attack, without this being confirmed by the authorities or the jihadists.

In this regard, Senaratne also indicated that the NTJ would have been supported by terrorist groups abroad. "We do not see how such a small organization could have done all this alone," he said.

This opinion was also shared for intelligence services "abroad"Sri Lanka's presidency reported in a statement.

In fact, many badysts have indicated that According to Salafist jihadist group textbooks, such as Al Qaeda and ISIS, the attack showed signs of very good planning and coordination between local and foreign cells.

In 2000, for example, Al Qaeda commandos collaborated with local Jemmah Islamiyah group cells in Indonesia to launch an attack in which 18 people died.. In 2005, something similar happened during the attack on the Grand Hyatt hotel in Jordan, where 60 people died.

(The moment a bomb explodes while the security forces try to defuse it)

In addition, the US center Soufan, which monitors various global threats, reported in January that Al Qaeda and ISIS were both seeking to strengthen their presence in South Asia, citing Bangladesh, Myanmar, India and Sri Lanka as possible targets.

Thus, the link with the NTJ, still little known, would seem natural.

It is believed that this radical Islamist group was established in 2016 as a separation from the Sri Lankan organization Thowheed Jamath (SLTJ), of similar orientation but perhaps less violent.

Since its creation, the NTJ has been accused of "promote hatred, fear and division", according to the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, indoctrinate children and seek frictions with the Buddhist majority.

Your chief and general secretary, Abdul Razik has even been arrested on numerous occasions for instigating religious unrest in the country, although it is unclear whether he was still behind bars.

Also in 2016, shortly after its creation, the leader of the radical Buddhist group and in front of BSS, Galagodaatte Gnanasara, warned that there would be "a bloodbath" if Razik had not stopped.

The authorities seemed to be paying attention to him, even though Gnanasara had also spent time in prison.

In early 2018, Sri Lanka experienced a period of tension whenor members of the Buddhist majority have caused serious unrest on the streets, attacking Muslims and mosques after a Sinhala man and Buddhist was killed by four young Muslims after a traffic accident.

The Muslim minority reacted by attacking Buddhist temples, and the security forces mobilized to suppress both groups and restore order. In total, two people died and 15 were injured during a two-week period that ended in March.

Time later, eThe NTJ gained even more notoriety after a series of hammer attacks against Buddhist statues in December in Kegalle District, which would be related to the riots of the previous months.

In January, the Sri Lankan security forces They found 100 kilos of explosives and 100 detonators in a wildlife park. No group has been formally charged, although it has been reported that Four radical Muslims had been arrested.

To this is added a warning received by the local police on April 11 by the police of a "foreign intelligence agency" on NTJ projects to attack the diplomatic delegation of India and a number of Christian churches.

Even some sources point out thatThis warning was received for the second time last week, which sparked fierce criticism of the security forces and even a request for the resignation of police chief Pujuth Jayasundara by the government.

Although the NTJ has generally shown hostility towards Buddhists, the choice of Christians as targets could be linked to a worldwide call from jihadism to attack members of this religionin response to the white and Christian supremacist attack on mosques in New Zealand, killing 50 people in March.

Sri Lanka is a deeply religious country with 21 million inhabitants, of which 70% consider themselves Buddhists, 12.6% Hindu, 9.7% Muslim and 7.4% Christian, according to the latest national census. .

With information from AFP and Reuters