Sri Lankan authorities said that Islamic terrorists carried out the Easter Sunday bombings that left nearly 300 dead and another 500 wounded.
Health minister Rajitha Senaratne said Monday that a preliminary examination pointed to National Thowheed Jamath, a local offshoot of ISIS, as being responsible for the attacks on churches and hotels. He said that although all the bombers were Sri Lankan, an international network was behind the atrocities.
“We do not believe these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country,” he told reporters. “There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.”
Three police officers searching for the attackers were killed in a raid at an apartment complex. Authorities also discovered 87 abandoned detonators at a bus stop in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. Twenty-four suspects were arrested.
The attacks targeted Christians, who make up just over 7% of the country’s population, on their holiest day. Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith canceled all evening Easter services, and police forces have been posted at churches across the country.
National Thowheed Jamath has not claimed responsibility for the bombings.
The attacks, some of which appeared to be suicide bombings, took place at three luxury hotels and three churches just outside Colombo. The explosions mark the worst violence in the country since its protracted civil war ended a decade ago.
Sri Lanka blocked major social media services, with authorities saying they wanted to curb the spread of misinformation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Sunday that “several” U.S. citizens were among those killed.
[Read more: Pence calls Sri Lanka bombings on Easter ‘an attack on Christianity’]
