Sri Lanka bombings: Tamil medium teacher among 106 suspects held
Colombo: A total of 106 suspects, including a Tamil medium teacher and a school principal, have been arrested in Sri Lanka in connection with the Easter Sunday blasts, police said Sunday, even as the Islamic State claimed the three militants who blew themselves up during a raid in the Eastern province were its members.
As the country marked a week since the coordinated blasts hit three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 253 people and injuring over 500 others, police and security forces continued their hunt for members of the National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ), the local terror outfit behind the attack.
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is carrying out the interrogation of the 106 suspects, Colombo Page reported.
The arrested people include a 40-year-old Tamil medium school teacher who was found in possession of 50 SIM cards and other incriminating items, the report said.
He was held following a joint operation conducted by the Kalpitiya Police and the Navy. In a special joint operation conducted by the Army and police in Vavuniya town, 10 suspects were arrested.
On a tip-off, main roads were blocked and search operations carried out for nearly three hours. Security has also been stepped-up in the area.
Meanwhile, two suspects were arrested in Damgedara area in Galle during a search conducted on information received of a school managed by the NTJ.
One of the suspects is the principal of the school and the other is a doctor who has served as an instructor. The Galle police are conducting further investigations.
Sri Lanka on Saturday banned the NTJ and a splinter group linked to the ISIS.
On Friday, six children and three women were among 15 people killed when militants linked to the Easter Sunday bombings opened fire and blew themselves up during a fierce gun battle with security forces in Eastern province.
A huge cache of explosives was also recovered from the spot.
The Islamic State terror group, in a statement published early Sunday through the its propaganda 'Amaq' news agency, claimed that the three militants who blew themselves up during the fierce gun battle were its members.
At the security council meeting on Friday, it was decided that search operations to crackdown on extremist terrorism must continue until the threat is completely eliminated.
Security has been improved at hotels, schools and public places.
Nine suicide bombers carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels on the Easter Sunday, killing 253 people.
The Islamic State claimed the attacks, but the government has blamed local extremist group NTJ for the attacks.
President Maithripala Sirisena said Friday that over 130 suspects linked to the Islamic State terror group have been operating in the country.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka needs new laws to deal with threats posed by local terror outfits linked to ISIS.
According to Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry, the number of foreign nationals who have been identified as killed remained at 40, including 11 from India.
Sri Lanka has a population of 21 million which is a patchwork of ethnicities and religions, dominated by the Sinhalese Buddhist majority.
Muslims account for 10 per cent of the population and are the second-largest minority after Hindus. Around seven per cent of Sri Lankans are Christians.
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West Asia crisis: Rajasthan man goes missing near Oman after Iranian missile hits oil tanker
Jaipur (PTI): A man from Nagaur district in Rajasthan has gone missing after a missile struck an oil tanker he was aboard near Oman amid the ongoing conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, according to his family members.
The family said they received information that an Iranian missile hit the vessel on the morning of March 1 while it was stationed at Khasab Port, causing significant damage to the ship.
Dalip Singh, the missing crew member, is a resident of Khinwatana village in Nagaur and began his duty on January 22.
He was serving as a crew member on the tanker operated by Skylight Company. At the time of the attack, Dalip was in the forward section of the ship with another crew member, Ashish Kumar, who hailed from Bihar. While Kumar's body has been recovered, Dalip remains untraceable, his brother Devendra Singh said.
Devendra further mentioned that the company informed them that most of the crew members were evacuated safely during the attack. However, Ashish and two others, including Dalip, have gone missing.
He noted that Dalip last spoke to the family on February 28.
Additionally, another man from Nagaur district, Sunil Kumar, was also working on the same vessel. Dalip is said to have taken over duty in the shift after Sunil completed his assignment, Devendra added.
