9 suicide bombers, including woman took part in Easter Sunday bombings in Lanka: police
Colombo: Nine suicide bombers, including a woman, were involved in the massive Easter Sunday bombings and 60 people have been arrested so far for their suspected links to Sri Lanka's worst terror attack that killed at least 359 people, a top police officer said Wednesday.
Suicide bombers, believed to be members of local extremist group, carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Sunday.
The state minister of defence Ruwan Wijewardena said the multiple bomb attacks were carried out not by the National Tawheed Jamath (NTJ) but by its splinter group.
Sri Lanka's government had earlier blamed the blasts on the NTJ.
Wijewardena told reporters that the members of the group had differences and the final attack was carried out by a group that left the main NTJ.
The Islamic State terror group has claimed the attack, although it did not provide direct evidence of its involvement. Wijewardena said there was no evidence at present whether the splinter group had any foreign connections.
Out of the nine suicide bombers, eight have been identified by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Police Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said.
The ninth bomber was confirmed as the wife of one of the suicide bombers, he said.
He said the death toll has jumped to 359 on Wednesday, up from a previous count of 321 people. Nearly 500 people have been injured in the attack.
Ten Indian nationals have been confirmed dead.
Sixty people have been arrested for possible links to the multiple attacks carried out on Easter Sunday. Of them, 32 are in custody with the CID. All of those arrested are of Sri Lankan nationality, Gunasekara said.
State defense minister Wijewardene said the majority of Sunday's suicide bombers were from well-heeled families. They were also well-educated, including at least university graduate who had studied abroad.
"Most of them are well-educated, and come from maybe middle- or upper-middle-class. So they are financially quite independent and their families are quite stable financially," he said.
Wijewardene said, "We believe that one of the suicide bombers studied in the UK and maybe later on did his post-graduate in Australia, before coming back to settle in Sri Lanka."
The number of foreign nationals who have been identified as killed is 34. Additionally, 14 foreign nationals are unaccounted for at present, and could be among the unidentified victims at the Colombo Judicial Medical Officer's mortuary, officials said.
Sixteen foreign nationals injured in the attacks are receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital and private hospitals in Colombo while others have been treated and discharged.
An attack on a fourth hotel on Sunday was foiled, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Tuesday. He also warned that more militants and explosives could still be "out there" following the attack.
The country remains tense with police still looking for suspects and possible further explosives. But Wickremesinghe said the attacks "could not have been done just locally". "There had been training given and a coordination which we are not seeing earlier," he said.
A state of emergency remains in effect to prevent further attacks. The emergency powers allow the security forces to crackdown in law and order breaches by sudden searches of property, arrests and detention of people indefinitely.
Speaking in parliament the former commander of the Army, Field Martial Sarath Fonseka said removing the police chief Pujith Jayasundera was not answer to the security lapse which had led to the attacks. The government had demanded Jayasundera's resignation.
President Maithripala Sirisena in an address to the nation on Tuesday said that he would effect a shuffle in the security establishment within 24 hours. It was expected that he would call for the resignation of Jayasundera.
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Will vacate one of two assembly seats won in 10 days: BJP''s Suvendu
Kolkata (PTI): BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur and secured Nandigram for three times in a row in the recent assembly polls, said on Wednesday that he would vacate one of the two constituencies within 10 days.
Adhikari also asserted that the party's central leadership would decide which constituency he would retain.
"I will vacate one seat within 10 days. The party will decide which one I retain. I will not forget my responsibility towards the people of Bhabanipur and Nandigram," he said.
Adhikari on Monday defeated Banerjee in Bhabanipur by over 15,000 votes, puncturing what was long seen as her safest political refuge and delivering a decisive psychological blow to the TMC, amid a sweeping BJP surge across West Bengal.
Addressing party workers and supporters in Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district, the BJP leader appealed to them not to take out victory processions immediately and instead maintain peace.
"Do not take out victory rallies now. Maintain peace and discipline. Celebrate after May 9, after taking permission," he told party workers.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya on Wednesday announced that the oath-taking ceremony of the new government will be held on May 9 at Brigade Parade Ground.
Referring to alleged attacks on BJP workers during the TMC regime, Adhikari said he would not forget the “atrocities" faced by them and assured them of taking appropriate action against perpetrators through legal processes.
"I was part of the 2011 ‘poribartan’ (change), and now I am part of the real change. I offer my gratitude to the people of Nandigram," Adhikari said.
He was referring to the TMC's victory in 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee party dismantled the 34-year Left Front regime in the state.
Adhikari offered prayers at a Hanuman statue in Nandigram and remembered the BJP workers, who had died in political violence.
"We will work in such a way that the BJP government in Bengal stays for 100 years," he said, expressing hope that the BJP’s vote share in the state would rise from the current 46 per cent to 60 per cent in future elections.
The BJP leader also assured residents of Nandigram of improved drinking water supply and better hospital and education infrastructure.
