Fifteen people, including six children, on Friday night died in a battle between Sri Lankan security forces and suicide bombers who blew themselves up in the latest fallout from Easter attacks, police said yesterday.
Three men set off explosives that killed themselves, three women and six children inside what was believed to be a militant hideout near the eastern town of Kalmunai.
“Three other men, also believed to be suicide bombers, were found dead outside the house,” police said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
The three outside were shot dead by security forces, officials added.
Security forces tried to storm the house and an hour-long gun battle ensued before the explosions, a military official said.
A civilian was also killed in the crossfire during the nighttime raid near the predominantly Muslim town, with hundreds of families later fleeing their homes.
Police and troops have stepped up raids after the Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels, which killed least 253 people and injured 500.
Kalmunai is in the same region as the hometown of extremist Zahran Hashim, who founded the group accused of staging the attacks.
The operation followed a tip-off that people linked to the attacks were in the town 370km east of the capital, Colombo.
Video on state TV showed explosives, a generator, a drone and a large quantity of batteries inside the house.
The clashes came hours after security forces raided a nearby location where they believe Hashim and the other bombers recorded a video pledge of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before carrying out the attacks.
Police said they found an IS flag and uniforms similar to those worn by the eight fighters in the video.
IS released the video two days after the attacks.
Authorities named Hashim’s group, National Thowheed Jama’ath, as the perpetrators of the attack, but on Friday announced that he had been killed in the bombing of the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo.
The government is on the defensive over its failure to heed a foreign intelligence warning that the group was planning suicide bombings on churches.
Police chief Pujith Jayasundara became the second top official to resign over the blunders on Friday, after former Sri Lankan secretary of defense Hemasiri Fernando also stepped down.
Sri Lanka’s Catholic leader, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, has said that he felt “betrayed” by the government’s failure to act on the warnings.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe apologized on Friday.
“We take collective responsibility and apologize to our fellow citizens for our failure to protect victims of these tragic events,” he said on Twitter.
Amid fears of new attacks, the Roman Catholic Church has suspended all public services across the country until security is guaranteed by the government, with the archbishop appealing to Catholics to stay home and say private prayers.
Security has been stepped up at churches and mosques across the South Asian nation.
Some groups were expected to hold public vigils in Colombo and Negombo, where St Sebastian’s Church suffered some of the worst casualties in the bombings.
The military has poured troops onto the streets to back up police as they search for suspects using newly granted powers under a state of emergency.
At least 94 people are in custody, including a man believed to be the father of two of the bombers.
Authorities said that the hunt would continue.
“We now have info that there are about 140 people in Sri Lanka linked to the Islamic State. We can and we will eradicate all of them very soon,” Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said on Friday, announcing new legislation on extremist groups.
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