A person arrested in Dambulla has been identified as the second-in-command of the terror network operated by local Muslim group, the National Thowheed Jamath.
Relatives and friends mourn for a blast victim at the Madampitiya Cemetery in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 24, 2019. (Photo: IANS)
Sri Lankan security authorities have extracted vital information from the terror suspects arrested in connection with Easter Sunday serial blasts, the media reported on Friday.
Police have intensified search and arrested 16 more suspects, taking the number of those in custody to 76.
A person arrested in Dambulla has been identified as the second-in-command of the terror network operated by local Muslim group, the National Thowheed Jamath (NJT), the Daily Mirror reported.
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Investigations have also revealed that military training for the assailants was provided by a person called Army Mohideen while weapons training was conducted overseas and at some local locations in the Eastern Province, Nuwara Eliya and Wanathawilluwa.
The assailants had been provided with physical training at a gymnasium, according to the authorities.
The vehicles used in the terror attack had been purchased from a car sales centre in Kadawata.
Sources said that a copper factory operator arrested in connection with the bomb blasts had helped Mohideen by making the improvised explosives devises and helped purchase empty cartridges sold by the military as scrap copper.
Meanwhile, the police on Friday warned that more suspects in the Easter Sunday bombings were on the run.
Sri Lanka has released photographs of six suspects, including three women, wanted for their involvement in the deadly Easter attacks that killed over 253 people.
On Tuesday, the Islamic State or the ISIS had claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks without providing any major evidence.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan authorities revised the death toll from Easter Sunday’s string of bombings down to 253 people from the previous estimate of 359.
The Director General of the Health Services said the larger death toll was released as a result of a calculation error.
The Easter Sunday marked the bloodiest day in Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war a decade ago.
The country’s deputy defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene had earlier told the parliament that an initial probe into deadly suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka revealed it was a “retaliation for Christchurch.”
(With inputs from IANS)
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