Attacks in Sri Lanka: relatives of suspect Zahran Hashim are killed



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The father and two brothers of Zahran Hashim, the presumed organizer of the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka, were killed on Friday during a security force operation, police said.

Hashim, who blew himself up in a hotel in Colombo, founded an Islamist group, the NTJ, which has now been banned.

Police raided the group's headquarters in the eastern city of Kattankudy.

The Sri Lankan President announced the ban on face masks of Muslim women as a result of the attacks.

The attacks targeted churches and hotels, killing at least 250 people.

Sunday services were canceled across the country as a precautionary measure, but worshipers in the capital rallied to pray in front of St Anthony, severely damaged during the attacks.

How are Hashim's parents dead?

Security forces raided a house in Sainthamaruthu, near Hashim's home town, Kattankudy, on Friday.

According to the police, armed men opened fire while the troops were settling. Three men set off explosives, killing six children and three women. Three other people died in shots.

NTJ headquarters under police custody

Photo caption: Police closed Sunday NTJ headquarters

A family member confirmed for BBC News that Hashim's father and two brothers died during the raid.

Police sources who spoke to the Reuters news agency named these three men Mohamed Hashim and his sons Zainee Hashim and Rilwan Hashim.

All three had been seen in a video circulating on social media calling for a total war against all non-believers, adds Reuters.

In Kattankudy itself, the police raided the headquarters of the National Thawheed Jamath (NTJ), led by Zahran Hashim.

President Maithripala Sirisena announced Monday the lifting of the ban on face protection masks, for reasons of national security.

This announcement did not specifically mention the niqab and burka – worn by Muslim women – but instead indicated that people's faces should be perfectly visible in order to be identified.

What happened on Easter Sunday?

Sri Lanka is on maximum alert since the coordinated wave of bombings last Sunday, which has also injured more than 500 people.

The bomb attacks targeted churches packed for Easter holidays, as well as hotels popular with tourists.

In addition to St. Anthony's Shrine, bombers also struck churches in Negombo and the eastern city of Batticaloa, as well as hotels in the capital, Colombo.

Most of the victims were Sri Lankans, but dozens of foreign citizens were also among the dead.

While the authorities accuse the NTJ of being responsible for these attacks, they claim that they must have benefited from the help of a larger network.

The Islamic State group, which has carried out mbadive attacks on civilians in Paris and elsewhere in recent years, said it was involved, but did not give details.

How do we remember victims?

Sri Lankan Christians prayed at home while the Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, held a televised mbad attended by President and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

He described these attacks as "insulting humanity" in the service broadcast from a chapel of his residence.

"Today, during this mbad, we are attentive to the tragedy of last Sunday and we try to understand it," he said.

"We pray that this country will experience peace, coexistence and understanding without division."

Dozens of people gathered for public service outside St Anthony, where Buddhist monks joined Catholic priests to show their solidarity with the Christian community.

Crowds of people watched the church, heavily guarded, from behind a barricade, with hymns and rosaries pbading through their hands.

Many lit candles and placed them in a makeshift memorial for the victims.

The church bells rang at 08:45 (3:15 GMT) – the exact moment when a bomb blast blew up his device a week ago.

The needles of his damaged clock tower are still stuck at that time.

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