2 Muslim brothers were Lanka hotel suicide bombers

COLOMBO: Muslim brothers carried out two of the hotel suicide blasts in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, part of a wave of bombings that killed more than 320 people, police sources said Tuesday.

The sons of a wealthy Colombo spice trader were among suicide bombers who hit three churches and three luxury hotels, investigators told AFP.

An attack on a fourth hotel failed and helped lead police to the Islamist group now blamed for the assault, they added.

The brothers, whose names have not been revealed, were in their late twenties and operated their own “family cell”, an investigation officer said.

The pair were key members of the Islamist National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ) group which the government has blamed for the attacks, the official added.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the government has blamed the NTJ.

One brother checked into the Cinnamon Grand hotel and the other the Shangri-la on Saturday.

The next morning, at virtually the same time, they went to the hotels’ Easter Sunday breakfast buffets and blew up explosives-laden backpacks, the officer said.

Another bomb tore through a restaurant at the nearby Kingsbury hotel.

Minutes before, similar explosions devastated three churches.

Investigators said it was not known whether the brothers were in contact with the other bombers.

Another would-be suicide bomber walked into a fourth luxury hotel in Colombo on Sunday, official sources told AFP.