Chilling video shows Kiwi-linked Sri Lankan terrorist failing to detonate bomb

The bomber enters the lift, carrying an explosive device in a backpack. Photo / Supplied

Horrifying CCTV video shows a Sri Lankan terrorist standing in a hotel lift carrying an explosive device, just inches from a mother and two children.

She even makes room for the jihadi as he enters the lift, before he follows the family up to his intended target: the breakfast buffet at the Taj Samudra, a luxury hotel in Colombo.

The bomber, Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, has family links to New Zealand with both his mother and sister having lived in Auckland.

The bomber checks his phone inside the lift, just inches from the unsuspecting family. Photo / Supplied

His plan was to detonate his bomb at the seafront hotel, but the video shows him removing the backpack and fiddling with it, attempting to set it off multiple times before giving up and heading for the exit.

The jihadi struggles to detonate his bomb inside the luxury hotel. Photo / Supplied

He then gets his suitcase caught in a revolving door, needing the help of a hotel employee to exit the building.

The terrorist then headed to a budget motel where he set off the bomb, killing two guests who had just arrived.

Mohamed, 37, was the only one of the eight terrorists in the deadly attacks who failed to hit his intended target.

The bombers, who pledged allegiance to Isis, killed over 250 people in a series of co-ordinated attacks over Sri Lanka, targeting churches and hotels.

Mohamed's sister, Samsul Hidaya, has revealed how he became radicalised abroad and ended up "really angry and totally crazy".

The family split apart, with some moving to Australia and others to New Zealand.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Samsul Hidaya said Mohamed had been educated to the highest level but became increasingly withdrawn and intense as he descended into extremism.

"My brother became deeply, deeply religious while he was in Australia," she said.

"He was normal when he went to study in Britain, and normal when he came back.

"But after he did his postgraduate in Australia, he came back to Sri Lanka a different man.

"He had a long beard and had lost his sense of humour. He became serious and withdrawn and would not even smile at anyone he didn't know, let alone laugh."