WASHINGTON: Indian intelligence agencies forewarned Sri Lanka about impending attacks on churches and the Indian mission in Colombo, according to Sri Lankan officials quoted in the US media.
According to a memo issued by a high-ranking Sri Lankan police official to the country’s Ministerial Security Division, Diplomatic Security Division, Judicial Security Division, and Security Divisions of Retired Presidents, a suicide attack being was planned in Sri Lanka by Mohammed Zaharan, leader of the National “Thawhith Jamaan.”
“Foreign intelligence has informed that Mohammed Cassim Mohamed Zaharan alias Zaharan Hashmi the leader of the National Thowheeth Jamaaath and his followers are planning suicide attacks in this country. The reports noted that these attacks could target Catholic churches and the Indian High Commission in Colombo,” the memo warns.
The memo goes on to provide the coordinates of Zaharan’s associates and brothers who were said to be planning the attack.
The memo also suggests the attack on the churches on Easter Sunday in a country that is only seven per cent Christian, may have been in retaliation for the Christian extremist attack on mosques in New Zealand.
“A person known as Milhan, maintains a social media account under the name Mohammed Milhan and interacts with the social media accounts of Zaharan. It has been observed that he has been regularly updating accounts with hate speech against non-Muslims since the March 15, 2019, attacks on a Muslim mosque by a Christian individual in New Zealand,” the memo states.
“Even though Zaharan has not specifically called on his recruits to directly attack Catholic churches or the Indian High Commission, he has, since 2016, preached to his followers that the murder of non-believers is a most noble religious endeavour and that Islam should be spread through such acts,” the memo adds.
The three-page intelligence memo was based on input from Indian intelligence agencies, according to Mujibur Rahman, a member of Sri Lanka’s Parliament, quoted in the US media.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump phoned Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday morning to express condolences and received an update on the investigation. Trump pledged US support in bringing the perpetrators to justice, and the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the fight against global terrorism, according to a pool report.
Earlier, Trump had invited ridicule by tweeting that the serial blasts had killed 138 million people, more than the population of Sri Lanka. The tweet, an obvious mistake, stayed up for 20 minutes before it was deleted.
But in the hours after, the Trump administration moved quickly to salve Sri Lanka’s wounds and announce that the FBI would be aiding Colombo in its investigations.
Among the 290 people killed in the attack are nine Indians and four Americans, including a fifth-grade student from Sidwell, an elite Washington DC area school. A Danish billionaire also lost three of his four children in the attack.