NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Sri Lankan police probe Isis-linked local Islamist group in Easter bombings

By Amantha Perera, Joanna Slater
Washington Post·
22 Apr, 2019 06:49 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

An investigator at the scene of a suicide bombing at St Sebastian Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka. Photo / AP

An investigator at the scene of a suicide bombing at St Sebastian Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka. Photo / AP

An obscure local Islamist extremist group carried out the serial blasts that killed at least 290 people in Sri Lanka at Easter, a government minister said.

Senior security officials received advance intelligence that the group might target churches with suicide bombers.

The group's leader is believed to have died in one of the attacks, investigators said.

Rajitha Senaratne, a Cabinet minister, said that a local extremist group called the National Thowheeth Jamaath - which roughly translates as the National Monotheism Organisation - was behind the bombings.

Little is known about the group, and the nature of its links to extremists outside Sri Lanka remains unclear. But the office of Sri Lanka's president released a statement saying that intelligence indicates that "international organisations were behind these acts of local terrorists."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Suicide bombers attacked three churches and three hotels, killing at least 290 people and wounding more than 500. Police have detained more than 20 people in their investigation, including several Indian and Pakistani citizens.

Some of the arrests took place at a large home in the Dematagoda neighbourhood of Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital. The home belongs to the family of the alleged leader of Thowheeth Jamaath, according to a police official.

The leader is believed to have died in a suicide attack on the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, according to investigators who were not authorised to speak to the media.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The FBI is assisting Sri Lankan officials with the investigation, according to a law enforcement official. In addition to providing technical investigative support to the case, the agency is also scouring intelligence databases to see whether there are any pieces of information that could help investigators reconstruct the plot, the official said.

A van exploded a day after a series of coordinated blasts killed hundreds in Sri Lanka. No one is believed to have been injured.

Get more on the attacks here: https://t.co/3m9nvFVAZ9 pic.twitter.com/b3K9IL5Tly

— SkyNews (@SkyNews) April 22, 2019

A Sri Lankan security official said there could be additional explosives or potential suicide bombers authorities have not yet located.

"Right now, they are searching everywhere for possible bombs and people involved," said the official.

Thowheeth Jamaath, which the Sri Lankan security official characterised as a shell for Isis (Islamic State), has been active in Kattankudy, an area in the eastern part of the country and home to a large Muslim population, the official said. The group's leadership is believed to be based there, the official said.

Discover more

New Zealand

Sri Lanka hits 'unlikely to be revenge for NZ'

22 Apr 05:00 PM
New Zealand

Why Sri Lanka attacks unlikely to be 'revenge' for Christchurch

22 Apr 05:45 AM
Business

Billionaire loses 3 of his 4 children in suicide attacks

22 Apr 09:32 AM
New Zealand

Billionaire loses 3 of his 4 children in suicide attacks

22 Apr 07:09 PM

Criticism of the government's failure to act on prior intelligence about the group and its plans grew.

Two government officials provided the Washington Post with a three-page report issued on April 11 in which a senior police official warned of potential suicide attacks by Thowheeth Jamaath against well-attended Catholic churches.

The group was "planning suicide attacks" that could target churches and also the Indian High Commission, Priyalal Dassanayake warned in the document.

Important to note: "Sri Lanka Muslims Had Warned Officials About Group Behind Attack"https://t.co/co5EK7a1ys

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 22, 2019

Dassanayake, a deputy inspector general of police, identified at least five members of the group by name, including its alleged leader. He wrote that the authorities were monitoring their social media posts and possessed other intelligence, including information on their whereabouts.

The leader's social media posts did not reveal "clear evidence" of an intent to attack churches, Dassanayake wrote, but had called since 2016 for "nonbelievers" to be killed.

In a Facebook video of an older speech, reposted recently, the leader said there were three kinds of people - those who follow Islam, those who are friends of Islam and those who should be killed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Dassanayake wrote that two members of the group went into hiding after several religious statues were vandalised late last year.

"Confidential investigations are continuing," he concluded.

A spokesman for Sri Lanka's police declined to comment on the report's contents.

Opinion: World leaders are denouncing the Sri Lanka bombings as an attack on humanity. But make no mistake: This was an attack on Christians. https://t.co/Hl6h2UyzsB

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 22, 2019

In the days after April 11, the report circulated in parts of Sri Lanka's security establishment but was not raised before the Cabinet.

Mujibur Rahman, a member of Sri Lanka's Parliament, said his security personnel were aware of the report before the attacks. He said the report was based on information provided by Indian intelligence agencies.

The report has become a weapon in the bitter rivalry between Sri Lanka's President and Prime Minister, who represent separate parties.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The President, Maithripala Sirisena, also serves as the Minister of Defence. Allies of the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, say the handling of the report was a major national security blunder.

Others said the Sri Lankan Government had done too little. Hilmy Ahamed, vice-president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, said he gave intelligence officials details on extremists in the community, including those featuring in the current investigation, three years ago.

"I personally have gone and handed over all the documents three years ago, giving names and details of all these people," Ahamed said. "They have sat on it. That's the tragedy."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

US Fed holds rates steady amid rising inflation, growth concerns

18 Jun 08:15 PM
Premium
World

Trump’s base in uproar over his openness to joining Iran fight

18 Jun 08:13 PM
World

This simple fitness test might predict how long you’ll live

18 Jun 08:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

US Fed holds rates steady amid rising inflation, growth concerns

US Fed holds rates steady amid rising inflation, growth concerns

18 Jun 08:15 PM

The Fed held rates steady at 4.25%-4.50% for the fourth meeting in a row.

Premium
Trump’s base in uproar over his openness to joining Iran fight

Trump’s base in uproar over his openness to joining Iran fight

18 Jun 08:13 PM
This simple fitness test might predict how long you’ll live

This simple fitness test might predict how long you’ll live

18 Jun 08:00 PM
Nigerian university sparks controversy with bra checks for exams

Nigerian university sparks controversy with bra checks for exams

18 Jun 07:48 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP