New Delhi: The intelligence inputs on Easter day terror attacks that India had passed on to Sri Lanka were reportedly obtained from an ISIS suspect.
India had alerted Sri Lanka in the weeks and days leading up to the attacks. Some of this intelligence information was obtained from material obtained during interrogations of an ISIS suspect arrested in India, the CNN reported.
The suspect had reportedly given the name of the man he trained in Sri Lanka, who is associated with a local extremist group implicated in the bombings. The man, Zahran Hashim, was identified in a video of the purported attackers released Tuesday by ISIS, which claimed responsibility for the Easter Sunday killings.
On Tuesday, the Islamic State terror outfit claimed the responsibility of the Easter day blasts in Sri Lanka in which more than 320 people were killed. It released a photo and video of the men it said were carried out the attacks.
"Those that carried out the attack that targeted members of the US-led coalition and Christians in Sri Lanka the day before yesterday are Islamic State group fighters," IS propaganda agency Amaq said in a statement.
The Sri Lankan government had blamed the little-known National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) Islamist group for the blasts, saying they were carried out in retaliation for last month's attacks on two mosques in New Zealand. The New Zealand prime minister has, however, said there was no connection between the two attacks.
The presidency cited intelligence saying "international terror groups" were backing Sri Lankan extremists.
Comments
0 comment