Sri Lanka identifies outfit behind blasts

Colombo: A local outfit identified as the National Tawheed Jamath is suspected of plotting the deadly Easter blasts that killed 290 people and wounded 500 others in the worst terror attack in the country's history, a top Sri Lankan minister said on Monday.

An explosion went off on Monday in a van near a church in Colombo when a squad of Special Task Force (STF) and air force were trying to diffuse the bomb, Reuters reported.

"The van exploded when the bomb defusing unit of the STF (Special Task Force) and air force tried to defuse the bomb," the witness said.

Health Minister and the government spokesman, Rajitha Senaratne, also said that all suicide bombers involved in the blasts are believed to be Sri Lankan nationals.

Speaking at a press conference here, the minister said that the Chief of National Intelligence had warned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) regarding the probable attacks before April 11.

"On April 4, international intelligence agencies had warned of these attacks. The IGP was informed on April 9," Senaratne said.

He said that the local outfit identified as the National Tawheed Jamath - a radical Muslim group - is suspected of plotting the deadly explosions.

"There may be international links to them," he added.

Senaratne sought resignation of police chief Pujith Jayasundera given the significant security lapse. Rauff Hakeem, a government minister and the leader of the leading Muslim party - Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, said that it was lamentable that no preventive action had done taken despite the inputs.

"They have known this..., the names have been given, identified, but (they) took no action," he added.

Two Sri Lankan Muslim groups - the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama and the National Shoora Council - have condemned the blasts and offered condolences to the Christian community.

They have urged that all culprits be brought to book.

Seven suicide bombers were involved in eight blasts that targeted St Anthony's Church in Colombo, St Sebastian's Church in Negombo and Zeon Church in Batticaloa when the Easter Sunday mass was in progress. The explosions also struck three five-star hotels in Colombo - the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury.

No group has claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks, but police have so far arrested 24 people. As many as 87 bomb detonators were found on Monday at a bus station in Colombo, police said.

The bomb detonators were found at the Central Colombo bus station in Pettah area.

The police initially found 12 bomb detonators scattered on the ground. A further search revealed 75 more, a police statement said.

Meanwhile, the government said it would declare a national emergency from midnight on Monday following the serial blasts.

"The government has decided to gazette the clauses related to prevention of terrorism to emergency regulation and gazette it by midnight," the Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's media unit said in a statement.

The government also ordered a new night-time curfew as tensions remained high. The government information department said the curfew would run from 8:00 pm on Monday (local time) until 4:00 am on Tuesday.

The Indian Coast Guard has been placed on high alert along the maritime border to prevent any attempt by those behind the Sri Lanka blasts to enter India, central sources said Monday.

Meanwhile, four JD(S) workers from Karnataka, who were on a visit to Sri Lanka, have been killed in the multiple blasts in the island nation, according to Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.