'Cheap shot': NZ slams SL-Christchurch link terror claim

30 April 2019 12:43 pm - 5 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister has criticised suggestions that Sri Lanka's Easter Sunday bombings were retaliation for the Christchurch mosque shootings, saying his country is being misused, The Age reported today.

But New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters on Tuesday reiterated his government had seen no evidence of a link.

He said expert advice suggested the Sri Lankan bombings would have been planned well before the Christchurch terror attack.

It's a slightly cheap shot, I suppose, to try to explain it away. Let's see the evidence," Peters has told Sky News.

"Sometimes it pays to ... get the facts first before you beat your lips with an opinion."

Peters said it was a "fair suspicion" the claim had been made to deflect away from intelligence failings in Sri Lanka.

"We're not going to stand here and have our country misused," Peters said.

While Islamic State has claimed responsibility, Sri Lankan police have in recent days raided the headquarters of a hardline Islamist group, the National Thawheedh Jamaath, founded by the suspected ringleader of the bombings.

The authorities believe Zahran Hashim masterminded and was one of the nine suicide bombers in the attacks.

More than 100 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, have been detained for questioning over the bombings.

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Comments - 5

Lawry Tuesday, 30 April 2019 03:04 PM

"Sometimes it pays to ... get the facts first before you beat your lips with an opinion." The respect NZ gained with their PM's action can be lost with this guy shooting his trap.

Priyantha Tuesday, 30 April 2019 05:04 PM

Cheap milk powder we needs facts about what's in them.

Sajjad Ahmad Tuesday, 30 April 2019 06:26 PM

Sri Lanka is actually facing a new threat of terrorism from its old opponents. Those who waged war on Sri Lanka for 30 years in the shape of LTTE are planning to come back in terrorist business with Sri Lanka from day one.

Raj Peri Tuesday, 30 April 2019 07:00 PM

SL authorities are so desperate to cover up their slackness in this whole tragedy which would have been prevented if they had acted in time with the intel they received well in advance. Now they will do anything to save their faces. Really a cheap move.

Johny Tuesday, 30 April 2019 07:21 PM

Must be feeling little embarrassed now after the spectacle the had put up after the Christchurch shooting

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'Cheap shot': NZ slams SL-Christchurch link terror claim

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