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India warned Sri Lanka after detaining IS suspects: source
NEW DELHI, April 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – India warned Sri Lanka of possible
suicide bombings weeks before the Easter attacks, based on “threatening”
Islamic State-influenced material seized from suspects in the southern state
of Tamil Nadu, a source with knowledge of the investigation told AFP
Thursday.
A major dispute has erupted in Sri Lanka over why security services did
not act over the warnings. The Sri Lankan police chief issued an alert on
April 11 but it did not reach a top minister.
Several warnings were made to Sri Lanka, all at least two weeks before the
Easter Sunday attacks on three churches and three hotels in which 359 people
died, the source said.
India’s evidence, which included videos, was initially seized in raids in
2018 in which seven men were detained in the city of Coimbatore, media
reports said.
The seven are now under investigation on charges of links with the Islamic
State group.
“The videos showed a radical leader in Sri Lanka making threatening
comments that indicated suicide attacks were possible,” the source said,
speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The source did not name the leader but Indian media reports said the
videos showed Zahran Hashim, leader of the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ),
calling for Islamic rule in Sri Lanka and southern India.
Sri Lankan authorities say the NTJ carried out Sunday’s attacks, while the
Islamic State group has also said it was behind the bombings.
A video released by IS after it claimed responsibility appears to
prominently feature Hashim.
“India was particularly worried as there could have been a raid on the
Indian high commission in Colombo as well as the churches,” the source added.
Some Indian media reported that the first warning of possible attacks was
given in December. India has expressed increasing concern that Islamic State
could spread its influence in the country, which has a large Muslim minority
of about 200 million people in the 1.3 billion population.
The National Investigation Agency federal police last year set up a
special IS research unit. It has staged raids in a number of states in recent
months that it said targeted extremists with IS links.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1723 hrs