Father, two brothers of suspected Sri Lanka bombings mastermind killed in gun battle

[webfact]

Father, two brothers of suspected Sri Lanka bombings mastermind killed in gun battle

By Alasdair Pal and Shri Navaratnam

 

A police officer inspects the site of a gun battle between troops and suspected Islamist militants, on the east coast of Sri Lanka, in Kalmunai, April 28, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

 

KALMUNAI/COLOMBO (Reuters) - The father and two brothers of the suspected mastermind ofSri Lanka's Easter Sunday bombings were killed when security forces stormed their safe house on the east coast two days ago, police and a relative said on Sunday.

 

Zainee Hashim, Rilwan Hashim and their father Mohamed Hashim, who appear in a video circulating on social media calling for all-out war against non-believers, were among at least 15 killed in a fierce gun battle with the military on the east coast on Friday.

 

Kamal Jayanathdhi, the officer in charge at Kalmunai police station on the east coast, confirmed the three men had died along with a child that appears in the video, and that the undated clip in which they discuss martyrdom, had been shot in the same house where the gun battle took place.

 

Two people who were inside the house, a woman and a seven-year-old girl believed to be relatives of the men, survived, he said, while a woman was killed in crossfire on a nearby street.

 

Niyaz Sharif, the brother-in-law of Zahran Hashim, the suspected ringleader of the wave of Easter Sunday bombings that killed over 250 people in churches and hotels across the island nation, told Reuters the video showed Zahran's two brothers and father.

 

Sri Lanka has been on high alert since the attacks on Easter Sunday, with nearly 10,000 soldiers deployed across the island to carry out searches and hunt down members of two local Islamist groups believed to have carried out the attack.

 

Authorities have detained more than 100 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt since the April 21 bombings.

 

On Sunday police in the eastern town of Kattankudy raided a mosque founded by Zahran which doubled up as the headquarters of his group, the National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ).

 

HOLY WAR

In the video, Rilwan Hashim is seen calling for 'jihad' or holy war, while children cry in the background.

 

"We will destroy these non-believers to protect this land and therefore we need to do jihad," Rilwan says in the video, sitting beside his brother and father.

"We need to teach a proper lesson for these non-believers who have been destroying Muslims."

 

Rilwan, who has a damaged eye and badly disfigured hand in the video, had recently been injured while making a bomb, Jayanathdhi said.

 

On Sunday, when Reuters visited the house, police were sifting through the wreckage, taking fingerprints and video footage.

 

Watermelon rinds and a box of dates were still on the kitchen counter, while four pairs of children's flip-flops were by the front door.

 

But in the main room, where the three men filmed the video, a huge crater had punched a hole in the concrete floor, while bloodstains covered the wall.

 

LOCAL VIGILANCE

Two men had moved into the three-room rented house in the Sainthamaruthu area of Kalmunai, days before the Easter Sunday attacks, police and locals said. After more people arrived, locals grew suspicious, said Mohammed Majid, the secretary of the Grand Masjid Sainthamaruthu, one of the town's main mosques.

 

After evening prayers on Friday, a group of men from the local Hijra Mosque came to the house to question the occupants.

 

When one man brandished an assault rifle, the men fled, alerting police who arrived shortly afterwards. One man was killed after running into the street with a gun to confront police, while a series of explosions came from the house, eyewitnesses said.

 

DANGER REMAINS

Authorities suspect there may be more suicide bombers on the loose. Defence authorities have so far focused their investigations on international links to two domestic groups they believe carried out the attacks, the National Thawheedh Jamaath and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim.

 

At a nearby house where police seized more explosives and a flag of the Islamic State on Friday, locals said they feared more violence.

 

"People were coming and going but we didn’t know their names," said Juneedha Hasanar, who runs a shop at the bottom of the street, yards from the house. “Now we are afraid.”

 

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Easter bombings, and on Sunday the group said three of its members clashed with Sri Lankan police for several hours in Friday's gun battle on the east coast before detonating their explosive vests, the militant group's news agency Amaq said.

 

The group said 17 policemen were killed or injured in the attack, but the Sri Lankan military has denied this. A police source told Reuters two policemen were slightly injured in the battle.

 

Police have said six children were among the other 12 people who died in the gun battle, and on Sunday recovered the partial remains of a child no more than a few months old.

 

(Reporting Shri Navaratnam, Shihar Aneez, Ranga Sirilal in COLOMBO and Alasdair Pal in KALMUNNAI; editing by Richard Pullin and Raissa Kasolowsky)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-04-29

[Tug]

Good hope they find all the criminals

[phantomfiddler]

For any person to call for an all-out war against anyone that does not hold the same religious belief as them, there has to be an abnormally low brain cell count in action ! Whatever happened to peaceful discussion ?

How can there be something wrong with NOT wanting to marry a 5 yr old ?

[sawadeeken]

This can't help but bring out the 'muslim Hater' in most people...... If the average muslim condone this and stays quiet, and don't punish these guys within their religion.... Then they must approve of it and deserve the hate they get because of these guys.....

 

I KNOW there is many kind hearted muslims..... Why don't they get out?????.... If they stay in then they will be treated like these guys and hated also...... OR .... clean up their own religion for their own good.......

 

You will notice that I 'refuse' to Capitalize' muslim.... from intentional lack of respect........

[bert bloggs]

I am sure there are good muslims , but judging by the way most seem to react to what these animals do , they will not come out against others of their faith , so as i see it ,if your not there shouting against them ,you are with them .

[Ulic]

They will not be missed. Hopefully, a few more will follow them into the great unknown. RIP to the woman who was killed in the crossfire. 

[Thakkar]

2 hours ago, sawadeeken said:

This can't help but bring out the 'muslim Hater' in most people...... If the average muslim condone this and stays quiet, and don't punish these guys within their religion.... Then they must approve of it and deserve the hate they get because of these guys.....

 

I KNOW there is many kind hearted muslims..... Why don't they get out?????.... If they stay in then they will be treated like these guys and hated also...... OR .... clean up their own religion for their own good.......

 

You will notice that I 'refuse' to Capitalize' muslim.... from intentional lack of respect........

 

“With regard to the so-called “innocent christians” that died in the bombings, are they on record denouncing the atrocities committed by christians such as the mosque shootings in nz?

 

Also, with apologies to new zealand, I refuse to use capitals for “christian” because my shift key is broken and i refuse to fix it.”

 

Do you see how ridiculous that sounds? Now you know how you sound.

 

 

[atyclb]

sri lank muslim groups have issued official statements condemning the bombings.

 

thinking non believers should be killed and believing they have the right to do so is warped

 

terrorism is also big business.  wonder if isis was thinking about getting their hands on the huge investments china has/is made/making in sri lanka?

[unblocktheplanet]

Gotta love dat ole time religion! Eye for eye... Image of some god, are we?