Aanik Rizwan :
After coordinated terror attacks by nine suicide bombers on April 21, Sri Lanka is now left in a state of emergency as authorities are scavenging the country to investigate the heinous crimes that resulted in more than 253 deaths and over 500 injured civilians.
The death toll is still not final since mutilated body parts from the explosion have made it more difficult for investigators to determine how many corps there are. The terrorists were targeting churches, hotels, and areas with high density of foreigners. Among those who lost their lives in the attacks was Zayan Chowdhury, grandson of Awami League leader Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, who died at the age of 8. His body was reported missing after one of the blasts and had been expedited to Bangladesh soon after being recovered. He is now resting at the Banani graveyard.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was also seen offering her support to family members during the funeral. Zayan’s mom and MP Sheikh Selim’s daughter Sheikh Amina Sultan Sonia had to stay in Sri Lanka by her husband, Mashiul Haque Chowdhury, who was in critical condition after the blast. Mashiul Haque’s condition, although improving, will not allow him to move from the hospital for a few weeks at minimum.
Until it is clear there isn’t any chance of another attack by the terrorist cell that was led by Zaharan Hashim, Sri Lankan government has given extra-judicial permissions to its police and military forces to detain suspects. It is also being assisted by United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Policing Service (MPS), United State’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), INTERPOL, and three more foreign law enforcement agencies. Designs for bombs, batteries, and ball bearing packages have been found in a raid by local police later the day of the attack in a southern district of Colombo.
A nighttime curfew has also been implemented across the country since Wednesday. As to not take any chances, authorities are destroying any object such as backpacks, vehicles, and anything else seen as suspicious using controlled explosions. Schools have also been shut down temporarily and gatherings for religious events have been put on hold. Furthermore, post offices are only shipping and handling packages that are wrapped under the supervision of their employees.
Although ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombings on Sunday, it is still unclear to which extent they may have been involved in planning or funding the attacks. Among the nine terrorists, three had family ties to Mohamed Yusuf Ibrahim, a wealthy and influential man who made his riches as a spice exporter. Two of his sons, Imsath and Ilham Ahmed Ibrahim, carried out attacks in the morning. Later that day, Mohamed Yusuf Ibrahim’s daughter-in-law also detonated another suicide bomb as police entered their family home in a raid. The explosion killed her, along with two of her children, and three officers.
The leader of the terror group, Zaharan Hashim, also took his life away in a suicide bomb targeting Colombo’s Shangri-La Hotel. The terrorist, who had links to the Towheed Jamaath extremist organization, expressed his extremist views in online perorations. His views and ties to extremist associations were mentioned in an intelligence report warning possible suicide attacks in churches across Sri Lanka.
According to the Washington Post, “Hilmy Ahamed, vice president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, said in an interview that his organization had alerted intelligence officials three times that Hashim was stoking religious tensions and inciting hatred in online sermons, most recently in February.” Indian intelligence had also warned Sri Lankan government about a possible attack and named the group’s leader as well as the possibility of him having ties ISIS. Sadly, church officials had never been notified of such threat and no action was taken against Zaharan Hashim.
During a national address, President Maithripala Sirisena acknowledged about the intelligence report, but denied being informed about it by his subordinates. Nevertheless, Sarath Fonseka, a Member of Parliament and ex-army chief told that it was “obvious that the letter would have gone to the President.”
Ilham Ahmed Ibrahim, now dead, had also been arrested previously and released. His father, Mohamed Yusuf Ibrahim, has been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting his sons. He was among about 60 other people to be arrested following the attacks. Although the Ibrahim family was described as quiet and mostly kept to themselves according to their neighbors, it was noticed by several people that the sons showed allegiance to Salafism, a fundamentalist jihadist branch of Islam. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera also added that an explosion in eastern Sri Lanka earlier this month has been confirmed as a test run by the same terrorists who carried out the Easter Sunday attacks.
As new information about the government’s liability in this case came to light, the pain and sorrow of many transformed into anger towards the government officials. The defense secretary and the inspector general of police have already been quitted. Lawmaker Wijedasa Rajapakse went a step further and asked for them to be arrested and prosecuted.
Many Muslim Sri Lankans are now leaving the city as threats of revenge and vandalism on Muslim households have escalated, leaving the Muslim population of Sri Lanka feeling insecure. Islamic scholars have also asked women not to wear veils that cover their face as it can interfere with the efforts of law enforcement.
The series of blasts not only shook Sri Lanka, but also affected the whole world as this attack of terror caused mass causalities and came unexpectedly following other acts of terrorism globally such as the attacks in Paris and Dhaka.
Intelligence agencies have suggested that motive for carrying out the attacks on Easter Sunday may have been spurred by revenge for the Christchurch shooting in New Zealand earlier in May that targeted two mosques and killed 49 people.
(Aanik Rizwan, student of Independent University, Bangladesh; email: [email protected])