Colombo: Emergency, which was imposed immediately after the Easter Sunday Islamist bombings in Sri lanka that killed 258 people, has been extended by one more month. Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena issued a proclamation saying that the emergency, which gives sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects for long periods of time, would continue for another 30 days, citing "public security".
Sri Lanka initially imposed the emergency to crack down on local jihadists blamed for the April 21 bombings that targeted three churches and three luxury hotels. Three weeks after the suicide bombings, anti-Muslim riots broke out in a province north of the capital in a backlash against the attacks. At least one Muslim man was killed and hundreds of Muslim-owned shops and homes were destroyed. Several mosques were also vandalised.
The police and the military say they have arrested scores of suspects, both in connection with the bombings and over what appeared to be organised violence against the Muslim minority. While extending emergency, Sirisena said the move was to maintain "public security." Meanwhile, the independent Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka accused police of failing to prevent the anti-Muslim riots after the bombings. "There appeared to be no preventive measures taken although retaliatory violence against the Muslim communities was a distinct possibility after the terror attacks," the HRCSL said in a letter.
The commission faulted the police for releasing suspects who were later seen taking part in attacks on Muslim targets. It said there was political interference to free some suspects. "As soon as they (the suspects) were released, the mob attacked all Muslim owned shops in Kuliyapitiya town during the curfew and went on to attack shops all the way to Rambawewa," the commission said.
It acknowledged that police could not have controlled the mobs on their own, but they had failed to arrange reinforcements from security forces. "Ensure that no undue political or other external interventions are tolerated, and that strict legal action be taken against those who obstruct police officers from performing their duties," the commission said.
Foreign hand seen
The investigators said that the bombers used "Mother of Satan" explosives which was favoured by the Islamic State group and its shows a new sign of foreign involvement. Detectives said the back-pack bombs used in the April 21 attacks were manufactured by local jihadists with Islamic State expertise. They named the explosive as triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, an unstable but easily made mixture favoured by Islamic State militants who call it "Mother of Satan". It was also used in the 2015 attacks in Paris, by a suicide bomber who hit the Manchester Arena in England in 2017 and attacks on churches in Indonesia one year ago. Islamic State has claimed the Sri Lankan bombers operated as part of its franchise. But Sri Lankan and international investigators are anxious to know just how much outside help went into the attacks.
"The group had easy access to chemicals and fertiliser to get the raw materials to make TATP," an official involved in the investigation said. The detectives say the National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ), local militants blamed for the attacks, must have had foreign help to assemble the bombs. "They would have had a face-to-face meeting to transfer this technology. This is not something you can do by watching a YouTube video," said the official. Investigators had initially believed that C4 explosives - a favoured weapon of Tamil Tiger rebels - were used, but forensic tests found TATP which causes more burning than C4. Police have also confirmed that 100 kg of explosives found in January in the island's northwest was TATP. They are checking the travel records of the suicide bombers as well as foreign suspects to see when and where bomb-making lessons could have been staged.
