All suspects in the Sri Lanka bombings are either dead or arrested, authorities say

(Image credit: Ishara S. Kodikara/Getty Images)

published 6 May 2019

A little more than two weeks after suicide bombings killed more than 250 people in Sri Lanka, every suspect directly linked to the attacks is either dead or arrested, Reuters reports.

Sri Lanka's acting police chief Chandana Wickramaratne announced the news on Monday in an audio statement circulated by the Sri Lankan defense ministry. He also said security forces confiscated bomb-making materials which were intended for use in future attacks by the militants.

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There is still some uncertainty surrounding the situation, however. Sri Lankan authorities believe the Easter Sunday attacks were carried out by two little-known local Islamist groups, the National Tawheed Jamath and Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim, both of which were banned by the state. The only group to have claimed responsibility for the attacks outright, though, is the Islamic State. It remains unclear whether ISIS and the local groups were literally working together, or whether the former served as inspiration.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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