Indian security agencies have sounded a red alert in Tamil Nadu, warning that the perpetrators of the dastardly terror attacks in Sri Lanka may flee via sea towards the coastal state. The Coast Guard and Navy have been put on high alert and mobilized.
Sri Lankan police have arrested 24 people in connection with the series of suicide bombings targeting hotels and churches, all allegedly associates of National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ), a group allegedly funded and supported by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Sources say ISI has been using Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq (IKK) as a proxy to radicalize unemployed Muslims youths in Sri Lanka and coax them to join the NTJ. A strong presence of NTJ members in Tamil Nadu and Kerala have caused security apparatus in these states to be beefed up.
Meanwhile, the death toll of the Easter Sunday attacks rose to 290 on Monday, with Indians accounting for eight persons. At least six JD(S) workers from Karnataka were killed as they sat close to the dining table for breakfast at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo, one of the major targets of the terror strikes.
They have been identified as Ramesh, KM Lakshminarayan, M Rangappa, KG Hanumantharayappa, Narayan Chandrashekar and H Shivakumar.
Preliminary investigation indicates that Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba contingents visited Sri Lanka and Maldives, disguised as social workers, to recruit jihadis. Young clerics from these countries were taken training camps in Pakistan.
"India has frequently been sharing inputs about radicalization activities with Sri Lankan counterparts as certain elements suspected to be linked with the island nation's little known outfit have come under the security scanner in the past," said a source in the Intelligence Bureau.
In May 2014, India harvested intelligence about NTJ's alleged radicalization activities in Sri Lanka.
During the same period, say Intelligence sources, clerics funded by ISI had begun to recruit youth for Islamic State.
Indian agencies had apprehended Mohammed Zakir Hussain, a Sri Lankan national, in Tamil Nadu while he was conducting reconnaissance of foreign missions in the southern states. He had taken photographs of the US Consulate in Chennai, the Israeli Consulate in Bangalore and other vital installations, and studied their topography allegedly at the behest of Pakistani diplomat Amir Zubair Siddiqui, who was posted as visa counsellor in the Pakistani High Commission in Colombo.
During interrogation, Zakir Hussain, related accused and other associates confessed to radicalizing unemployed and vagabond Muslim youth and bringing them into NTJ's fold.
(With agency inputs)
Not Home Safe Yet
- Another explosion went off in Colombo, near a church that was attacked on Sunday, while a police squad was trying to diffuse a bomb on Monday
- Rift between Lanka’s president and prime minister led to PM Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe being kept out of a recent intelligence briefing about a possible terror attack
- Indian Navy and Coast Guard on high alert as perpetrators of Easter terror attacks are suspected to flee the island nation using sea routes
- Police find 87 bomb detonators at Colombo’s main bus station as death toll rises to nearly 300 persons
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