Sri Lanka church bombings: Almost 56 radicals on the run

A week after the Easter attacks on churches in Sri Lanka, the police and the intelligence are on a strict lookout. In Batticaloa, where several people were killed, officials suspect at least 56 more radicals could be on the run.

At Sainthamaruthu near Batticaloa, where 15 individuals including six children were killed in blasts at a suspected Islamist safe house, the Sri Lankan bomb squad and the police detonated explosives in the vehicle used by the jihadists. The narrow road leading to the house has been cordoned off and people have been evacuated to safety. “We suspect there are more detonators and bombs inside the house. An investigation is still underway,” said the superintendent of police from Ampara district. Ampara district police has also been pressed into investigation.

Meanwhile, the mother and relatives of ringleader Zahran Mohammed Hashim have been reportedly asked to identify the body parts of the 15 individuals who had blown themselves up at Sainthamaruthu. It is suspected that among the 15 killed are the third brother of Hashim, his wife and their two children, and the wife of missing brother Zeyin and their two children; another sister of Hashim, her husband and their child could also be identified. “We are investigating. One of his brothers is still missing and his whereabouts are not known,” says a police official.

“We were suspicious on Friday when we saw a strange van. We suspected it to be Hashim,” says Rifan Majid, a driver at the Eastern Provincial council office. Majid lives in the locality where the blasts happened. He says, on April 16, a family came asking for a rental home at the Tsunami housing area, where he lived. "My friend, after asking me, gave his house on rent as he thought it will help him financially for his daughter's marriage. They agreed for Rs 50,000 advance and Rs 5,000 monthly rent.” But, immediately after moving in, the family locked the house and left. They returned only on Friday. "We got suspicious as the women were wearing hijabs, which was very unusual in this part of the country," recalls Majid. This was when Majid and his friend’s wife—the house owner—went knocking on the doors of the safe house. The duo wanted a rental agreement, with names and addresses on it. The man who answered the door agreed, but not before Majid caught a glimpse of weapons inside the house. “We informed the police. When they came along, firing ensued. There was a huge explosion,” says Majid.

A few kilometeres from Sainthamruthu, at Kattankudy, the police is still on the lookout for several suspects. Sources say Hashim’s driver has been taken into custody. It is suspected that he was involved in the killing of two policemen near a bridge in Batticaloa in 2018. The police had then suspected the hand of former LTTE cadres, who were taken into custody. “Hashim’s driver has now confessed. We have recovered weapons from the car,” a senior police officer in Batticaloa said.