Sainthamaruthu (Sri Lanka): Sri Lankan authorities on Saturday said ten civilians, including six children, were killed along with six suspected terrorists after a shootout between police and alleged militants.
A CNN report quoted witnesses saying they had seen two suspected terrorists on the run following an explosion turned their house ‘into the fire.’
At daybreak, a gruesome scene was revealed at the raided house in the town of Sainthamaruthu on the country’s eastern coast – charred bodies and the roof was entirely blown off during three explosions, it said.
Among those killed is one woman who was passing on a rickshaw at the time of the raid. Police are investigating the possible relationship of civilians to the suspected terrorists.
Earlier on Friday, authorities seized a large cache of explosives, 100,000 ball bearings and ISIS uniforms and flags from a separate garage a few miles from the shootout.
The raids come on the back of a major hunt for the perpetrators of the coordinated attacks on Easter Sunday, which killed 253 people including many worshippers attending Easter Mass services. National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ), a local extremist group, has been blamed for the bombings but has not claimed the attacks.
ISIS claimed responsibility, but a link between the attackers and the terror group has not been proven. One wounded suspect fled on a motorbike, and another suspected terrorist could be on the run as well, the American broadcaster quoted Maj Gen Aruna Jayasekara as saying.
One of the six suspected terrorists found dead has been identified as Mohamed Niyas, known to the authorities as a prominent member of the NTJ, it said.
The army had identified Niyas as the brother-in-law of the alleged ringleader of the Easter Sunday attacks, Zahran Hashim.
Meanwhile, the United States has advised its citizens to reconsider their travel to Sri Lanka in view of the bombings. The State Department raised the travel risk to Level 3 in a travel advisory issued on Friday. The State Department has also ordered the departure of all school-age family members of US government employees in kindergarten through 12th grade.
