A top Sri Lanka military source indicated that the main mastermind behind the attacks, Hashim Mohamed Zahran, spent “substantial” time in “South India, reports The Hindu.
Under the condition of anonymity, the senior official said,
“We are looking into the IS angle. We suspect that some of those radical youth were indoctrinated and trained in India, possibly Tamil Nadu,”
Earlier Sri Lanka’s intelligence identified Hashim Mohamed Zahran as the leader of the National Thowheed Jamaath, a local group which was thought responsible for the attacks. Two days after the attacks, Zahran was seen at the centre of the Islamic State video that claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Sri Lankan investigators have identified nine suicide bombers, already. Speaking shortly after the bombings the defence ministry said many of the suicide bombers were well educated and from financially stable backgrounds. The ministry said that one suicide bomber had studied at a British university and then did postgraduate studies in Australia.
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