Sri Lanka’s Easter Bomb Suspects Brought back from Saudi Arabia, Spotlight on Wahhabism

Five Sri Lankans suspected of having links to Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people were brought home in police custody on Friday after being deported from Saudi Arabia, police said.

Ariana News Agency- 

Sri Lanka’s Police declined to provide details of the arrests beyond saying the five were picked up in a Middle Eastern country and were sent back, in the custody of Sri Lankan police, from the Saudi city of Jeddah.

“These are the five remaining leaders of the April 21 terrorist group,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told reporters.
The Sri Lankan authorities have brought back five suspects that fled to Saudi Arabia after the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people, the police said in a statement on Friday

The authorities declined to provide the details regarding the arrest of these five suspects; however, the police did confirm that they were Sri Lankan nationals.

“These are the five remaining leaders of the April 21 terrorist group,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told reporters.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks that authorities said were carried out by two little-known domestic groups – the National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim.

Police declined to give information about the nature of the five suspects’ roles in the attacks but said one of them, identified as Mohamed Milhan, was a senior member of the NTJ.

“He could have been the next leader,” Gunasekera said.

The police formerly claimed that the main suspect links with Zahran Hashim, the suspected ringleader of the Easter Sunday bombings, throwing a spotlight on the rising influence of Salafi-Wahhabi Islam on the island’s Muslims.

Wahhabi Islam has its roots in Saudi Arabia and is backed by its rulers, although Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has committed the kingdom to a more moderate form of Islam.