Sri Lanka bomb cache discovered during army raid

Soldiers’ clash with terror suspects near Isil base comes as leader of Easter attacks declared dead

SRI LANKAN soldiers last night fought a gun battle with suspected militants and found a large cache of bomb materials as they hunted for the surviving members of Easter Sunday’s terrorist bombing ring.

Soldiers exchanged gunfire when raiding a building in Sainthamaruthu, in eastern Sri Lanka, with residents hearing several explosions.

Earlier, detectives had found a nearby store of explosives, drones, an Isil banner and robes used in a propaganda video recorded before the bombers detonated in crowded hotels and restaurants.

The bombers filmed themselves swearing allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) before they killed 253 Christians, hotel guests and staff.

The clashes yesterday came as the country remained on high alert with thousands of extra security forces drafted on to the streets.

Sri Lankan authorities also said that the extremist preacher suspected of masterminding and leading the bombings died in the blast at the Shangri La hotel, where British victims were killed.

Mohamed Zahran, the leader of the local jihadist group National Thawheed Jamath, known for his social media speeches, was one of the suicide bombers who carried out the attacks on three hotels and three churches, police said on an official Twitter account.

Detectives had also arrested the group’s second-in-command and said that the militants’ training was provided by a soldier known as “Army Mohideen”.

Maithripala Sirisena, the president, said the group was driven by “religious fanaticism,” suggesting its leader had killed himself to “set an example” and gain his group more followers.

However, Chula Senaviratne, the national security chief, said there was “still ambiguity whether he is dead or not” while DNA tests are being done.

“There is strong likelihood that the decapitated head of the suicide bomber at Shangri La was the same person we identified in the photographs,” he said.

“However, we cannot be absolutely certain.”

Sri Lankan officials have made claims and counterclaims in the chaotic aftermath of Sunday’s atrocities as security forces rush to detain suspects and the government reels from its failure to act on warnings that bombings were imminent.

Security agencies are also trying to track down hauls of explosives, some of which may have been left over from Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war.

The government has apologised for its failure to act on precise and repeated alerts from India that named suspects were planning to attack local churches.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, said he felt “betrayed” by the failure to act on warnings that could have prevented the attacks.