Police Raid Headquarters of Muslim Group Suspected in Sri Lanka Easter Church Bombings

43

This is not one lone crackpot or some freak living in his mom’s basement acting out some fantasy so that he may live in infamy. This is war – a global movement rooted in Islamic texts and teachings. Scores have been arrested and how many more remain at large?

Sri Lanka raids headquarters of hardline Islamist group suspected in church bombings

By Alasdair Pal, A. Ananthalakshmi, Reutrs, April 2019:

COLOMBO/KATTANKUDY (Reuters) – Sri Lankan police raided the headquarters of a hardline Islamist group founded by the suspected ringleader behind the Easter suicide bombings of churches and hotels, a Reuters witness said, as Sunday mass was canceled due to fears of further attacks.

Armed police in the town of Kattankudy searched the headquarters of the National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ) and detained one man at the premises, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. Police did not comment.

Story continues below advertisement

On Saturday the government banned the NTJ under new emergency laws.

The authorities believe Zahran Hashim, the founder of NTJ, masterminded and was one of the nine suicide bombers in the attacks on Easter Sunday which killed 253 people. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Police suspect the bombings were carried out by two local Islamist groups, including the one established by Zahran. Around 10,000 soldiers have been deployed around the island as the authorities hunt for more suspects.

Police sources told Reuters on Sunday that Zahran’s father and two brothers had been killed two days earlier in a gun battle with security forces. A relative identified the three men in a video circulating on social media calling for war against non-Muslims.

The Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Ranjith, who had asked churches to suspend Sunday mass due to security fears, delivered a televised special sermon from a chapel at his home. The service was attended by President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The archbishop said earlier this week that he had seen an internal security document warning of further attacks on churches.

“We cannot kill someone in the name of God … It is a great tragedy that happened,” the archbishop said in his sermon.

“We extend our hand of friendship and fraternity to all our brothers and sisters of whatever class, society or religion that differentiates us.”

The archbishop and political leaders then lit candles to commemorate the victims.

Most of those killed in the Easter Sunday attacks were Sri Lankans. The dead also included 40 foreigners, including British, U.S., Australian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals.

Police believe that radical Muslim preacher Zahran led the NTJ – or a splinter faction – to mount the attacks in Colombo as well as on a church in Batticaloa in the east.

Advertisement

The authorities have named the other group suspected of involvement as Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim.

Neither group were well known before the attacks but the government has come under heavy criticism for not heeding intelligence warnings of the bombings, including one from India’s spy service hours before the attacks.

On Friday, Sirisena said the government led by premier Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.
GUN BATTLE

More than 100 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, have been detained for questioning for questioning over the Easter attacks.
Slideshow (16 Images)

The Sri Lankan military said at least 15 people were killed during a fierce gun battle with Islamist militants on the east coast on Friday, including six children.

In an apparent reference to the three men, Islamic State said on Sunday that three of its members had clashed with Sri Lankan police for several hours on Friday before detonating their explosive vests. It did not name them.

The group’s news agency Amaq said 17 policemen were killed or injured in that battle. It did not give any evidence.

Sri Lanka’s 22 million population is majority Buddhist and includes minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus.

At the Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo where one of the bombs went off last Sunday, Buddhist monks, some as young as 10 and senior clergy, performed rituals in a tribute to the victims.

=

The Truth Must be Told

Your contribution supports independent journalism

Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.

Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.

Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.

Please contribute here.

or

Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding. Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.

Follow Pamela Geller on
Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.

Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.

If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
43 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jerry Dobson
Jerry Dobson
4 years ago

This is war and only the Muslims know it.

Petra
Petra
4 years ago
Reply to  Jerry Dobson

All of us have dreams to meet but we somewhere get disoriented in this today’s fast paced modern society. Let’s establish your goals can come true by working with you get atleast $30000 regular monthly. On-line occupation that works well to meet your needs and earns for you. It gives you liberty to work wherever and operate your life in your way. It gives luxury to spend your time with your family and choice to reach all your dreams. The idea is hard to have confidence in it because its high paying yet its actually true. It is certainly not a fraud or scam but a good chance to simply turn everything the way you wished. Work-at-home and make funds. Give it a go and make that try really worth >>>> http://ic.srv.br/3219e3731f

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
4 years ago
Reply to  Petra

What? You’re pimping yourself out of your own home? Is that a good idea to let johns know where you live?

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

Time to block another liberal scammer.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

It could be a muslum run honeypot — where f’ing muslums run a website whose sole goal is to glean IP addresses of people who visit various counter-jihad websites like the gellerreport.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago
Reply to  Petra

Blocked and flagged.

1PierreMontagne1
1PierreMontagne1
4 years ago
Reply to  Jerry Dobson

Yes it is a War but only the Muslims believe it is a War …on the Losers

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

Where we they BEFORE this happened?
What kind of policing are they doing over there?
They were warned BEFORE it happened,

Achmed Mohandjob
Achmed Mohandjob
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

We had ample warnings, prior to September 11, 2001. What kind of policing were we doing over here?

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

You’ll have to ask Bush and Clinton about that. From what I remember it was
“increased chatter”. I have since learned that GWB is a scumbag but I don’t believe he intentionally let 9/11 happen. You would think other countries would have learned to take that seriously since then. Sri Lanka KNEW this attack was coming.

Achmed Mohandjob
Achmed Mohandjob
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Actually, there were serious warnings given.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

But, but GWB wants to believe Islam is a religion of peace.
It’s the globalist message.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

You’ll have to ask Bush and Clinton about that. From what I remember it was
“increased chatter”. I have since learned that GWB is a scumbag but I don’t believe he intentionally let 9/11 happen. You would think other countries would have learned to take that seriously since then. Sri Lanka KNEW this attack was coming.

R. Arandas
R. Arandas
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Well, there are 2 MILLION Muslims in Sri Lanka, maybe some of them were also working in the government or security forces?

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
4 years ago

What’s an “islamist militant”? Oh that’s right it’s a euphemism for a f’ing muslum.

gfmucci .
gfmucci .
4 years ago

The candles are such a sweet gesture.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago
Reply to  gfmucci .

They dishonor the dead with these repetitive sophomoric rituals.
I find them to be tedious and boring. What they should be doing is preventing them BEFORE they happen.
There was plenty of warning to the police and their “intelligence” that this attack was coming. In fact officials were urged not to attend a Christian church on Easter. They simply “watched” the terrorists and didn’t stop them.

Laura Mullen
Laura Mullen
4 years ago

for every day that those churches are closed, every mosque in Sri Lanka should be closed as well!

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago
Reply to  Laura Mullen

Buddhist temples should also be closed. Buddhists are the state religion in Sri Lanka.
They did NOTHING to stop this and the POLICE KNEW it was coming.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

I’ve read that as well over on Spencer’s site. Do you think the atheists who run the dying West will care when muslums begin mass murdering Christians/Jews/Hindus/Buddhists? I don’t.

Rick James
Rick James
4 years ago

Many Atheists do care, C Hitchens and Sam Harris were some of the lone voices warning about Islam soon after 9/11.

What it boils down to is firstly, how much people know about Islam and secondly, if they consider it a threat or not.

I’ve seen Christians/Atheists/Conservatives/Liberals fully supporting Muslims, like the Pope, Hillary Clinton and millions of others who think like them.

On the flipside there are millions of Christians/Atheists who realize Islam is at war with us and know that we must fight back.

in short the next world war will be between those who support Islam and those who support it. Those who are ignorant/uninformed will foolishly take the enemy’s side and be defeated alongside them.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
4 years ago
Reply to  Rick James

There have been 70,000 Nigerian Christians slaughtered this century by f’ing muslums and the atheist West hasn’t done anything for them or even recognized their plight for the genocide it is.

1PierreMontagne1
1PierreMontagne1
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Actually Sri Lanka wanted a reason to come down hard on the Muslims. The Jihadists in their midst are like the Royhingya Muslims attacking Buddhists in Myamar.
It’s like what Sri Lanka did with the Tamil tigers – let it go until they has a reason to kill them all. Unfortunately the west does not get it that the Wests Human rights codes block defending the west form Islam. Sri Lanka and Myamar do not have that wilful blindness problem

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

If they wanted a reason to come down hard on Muslims, instead of WATCHING them prepare for an attack, they could have arrested them and stopped the attack.

Tamara Hussey-Mecklenburg
Tamara Hussey-Mecklenburg
4 years ago

No one whose religion it is to abuse or kill nonmembers should be permitted on our home soil.

Actively living their religion or not, there’s always the threat they will.

It’s a war crime.

Not one should be permitted entry. Our leaders are responsible for each and every criminal and violent act by any of these people.

If you are muslim, you are guilty because you believe in abusing and killing anyone that speaks out against your beliefs or is not a member of your faith.

That makes it a sickness, not a belief system.

Rick James
Rick James
4 years ago

Well said, we need our leaders to understand this message so they can stop the madness of Islam and Muslim immigration, they need to be sent back.

Tamara Hussey-Mecklenburg
Tamara Hussey-Mecklenburg
4 years ago
Reply to  Rick James

The more support we can get for this agenda the better. Thank you for your support!

Rick James
Rick James
4 years ago

Exactly right Pam, this is a war and whether we like it or not, Muslims are participants on one side and the rest of us on the other.

Just like Nazism, not all of them were evil but most were working in the cause of German Supremacism, just as most Muslims are working in the cause of Islamic Supremacism. The parallels between these two fascist ideologies is undeniable.

This is why it’s all the more disturbing that the intelligentsia in the West still largely refuse to accept that we are in a global war against Islam, it just couldn’t be more obvious. If we were a rational, self-confident civilization, we’d be treating every single Muslim with suspicion and as a potential threat to all of us.

Instead we get lies, cover-ups, demonization of opponents of Islam, denial there is even a Jihad and so the one-sided war against us continues. Muslims keep getting away with countless terrorist attacks while we’re busy crying about ‘Islamophobia.’

Muslims are not just winning the actual battle but also the propaganda war, which is largely waged against people who recognize the threat and are working to wake up the rest of society.

I truly hope we’re getting close to that moment when most in the West finally wake up and realize we are in a real fight for our lives and we need to defeat Islam like we did with Nazism.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago
Reply to  Rick James

There is a new twist to this. Religious nationalism. Christianity rates the lowest on the list of protecting.
Sri Lanka prioritized Buddhism. India prioritizes Hinduism etc.. It is the Christians that get the short end of the stick and Muslim take advantage of that. In Sri Lanka Muslims could have targeted the state religion of Buddhism that accounts for 70% of the population but no, they chose Christians, knowing Sri Lanka didn’t care. The whole time this Muslim terrorist group was being WATCHED and they knew of the attack coming since January. Even officials were warned not to go to a Christian church that day.

A Calculated Attack on Christianity
By Doug Bandow
This article appeared on The National Interest (Online) on April 23, 2019.
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/calculated-attack-christianity

1PierreMontagne1
1PierreMontagne1
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

That is the danger with 51% democracy – That’s why Sri Lanka prioritized Buddhism. That’s why India prioritized Hinduism,

That’s why America is a Republic and that we have an electoral college.

Cayman
Cayman
4 years ago

Getting closer to HAD an electoral collage.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
4 years ago
Reply to  Rick James

Nazis weren’t all evil? Then why did they chose to subscribe to a Jew hating, fascist ideology? Let’s remember not all Germans were nazis — which is why there was at least one attempt to assassinate Hitler.

Rick James
Rick James
4 years ago

Dude don’t cherrypick my post, read it in context. There were many Germans who opposed Hitler’s agenda, think of Schindler’s list movie and defectors. Obviously Nazism was a problem as a whole same with Islam.

But not every single Muslim or Nazi is/was on-board with the program. According to an ex-Muslim site about 25% of Muslims in the US leave Islam each year, that’s not a small number and they can be our allies.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
4 years ago
Reply to  Rick James

If you’re a muslum you’re a fascist — straight up, otherwise why bother identifying as a muslum at all?

John Mitchell
John Mitchell
4 years ago
Reply to  Rick James

Yeah, it’s all good…
comment image

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
4 years ago
Reply to  John Mitchell

LOL, excellent.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

Sri Lanka police should be ashamed of themselves. They have known an attack was coming since JANUARY! They didn’t care and still don’t care. They have been shamed into taking action but Christians are not their priority. Buddhism is the state religion that dominates and will remain the priority. There was no reason for this outright slaughter to happen. ALL of it was easily preventable!

A Calculated Attack on Christianity
By Doug Bandow
This article appeared on The National Interest (Online) on April 23, 2019.

Compounding the tragedy, foreign governments warned Colombo of potential attacks more than two weeks ago. Rauff Hakeem, minister of city planning, criticized the “colossal failure on the part of the intelligence services.” Housing Construction Minister Sajith Premadasa denounced the security services’ “negligence and incompetence.” Telecommunications Minister Harin Fernando even reported that he was urged by his father, who heard rumors of possible attacks, not to attend major churches. Added Fernando: “Some intelligence officers were aware of this incident. Therefore there was a delay in action. Serious action needs to be taken as to why this warning was ignored.”

Sri Lankan intelligence apparently had been monitoring the group and tracking its leaders for months. The government was aware in January that Islamic radicals had stockpiled bomb materials and more than a week ago acknowledged threats against Catholic churches. After the attack, government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne admitted that the authorities had received multiple warnings about possible NTJ activity. The speedy arrest of more than a score of the group’s operatives suggests that timely action could have disrupted the operation.

The Easter attacks were pure terrorism. However, on a daily basis, Sri Lanka has become an increasingly hostile home to any faith other than Buddhism. Buddhism is the state religion, accounting for roughly 70 percent of the population. Hindus (12/6%), Muslims (9.7%) and Christians (7.4%) of the population.

Unfortunately, the country’s Buddhism is not that of myth — gentle followers of the Buddha spreading love and happiness while communing with nature. Rather, many of these Buddhists, starting with monks, are violent nationalists. Cruel xenophobia has been on the rise since 2012 and is similar to that increasingly seen in Burma/Myanmar, though so far without the extreme brutality of the latter’s pogrom against the Muslim Rohingya.

According to the State Department, Christian churches “continued to report physical attacks and harassment by police and local government officials who often sided with the religious majority in a given community.” State cited numerous cases of assault on and intimidation against Christians by vigilantes, monks, police, and public officials.

There also has been a rise in Hindu nationalism, as in India. The 2014 victory there of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party inflamed and empowered Hindu extremists, increasing violent attacks on Christians and Muslims in India.

Christianity’s dominant role in American culture has obscured the fact that it is the most persecuted faith globally.

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/calculated-attack-christianity

YES GLOBALLY, it is CHRISTIANITY that is the most persecuted faith on this planet.
They aren’t just being insulted or snubbed they are literally being slaughtered.

Suresh
Suresh
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Agree. Left/Liberal pro-jihadis/anti-nationals politicians/media are corrupt paid shills for islam . paid by saudi/qatar/OIC. Sri Lankan govt has been lax , but EU elites allow this everyday in EU. Any one dares speak out loses job,harassed , jailed.

At least SL govt does not do such crap.

Merkel govt funded Pro-jihadi Left/Liberals run propaganda to create more sex slaves out of little children like in UK https://tinyurl.com/yd9jo5mf

Do these scumbags have any conscience ?

R. Arandas
R. Arandas
4 years ago

Let us hope that all the free countries are doing everything they can to help the Sri Lanka security forces, because they do NOT seem to be the most competent!

Roma Mikhasev
Roma Mikhasev
4 years ago

ordinary islam

John Acord
John Acord
4 years ago

Hopefully,the Sri Lankans will follow the example of their Buddhist brothers in Burma and expel the Muslims from their island. This was an attack not just on Catholics but on all Sri Lankans and there is only one solution: expel the Muslims immediately.

jerrys
jerrys
4 years ago

It is not just an attack on Christians , Jews or Hindus. It is an attack on all civilization and humanity!

But wait islam brings us so much. It will even increase employment:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8957769/saudi-arabia-beheadings-execution-jobs/

Defence Man
Defence Man
4 years ago

The THIRD WORLD WAR started decades ago but there are many who still do not see it ! Islam declared war and has been carrying out their war plans right in front of our
faces. That a large part of the free world decided that they have moved so far left politically that they might as well call themselves socialist as in “Democratic Socialist Party” in the United States and the rest of us seem unable to recognize this fact. Yes we are at war and had better man-up to this fact or lose and become slaves to pure evil !

Sponsored
Geller Report
Thanks for sharing!