Easter Sunday attacks have been staged in retaliation - PCoI report

Easter Sunday attacks have been staged in retaliation for the attack on the Mosque in Christchurch New Zealand and the attacks on ISIS in Syria, the report of the Presidential commission which probed the attack had revealed.

The report which was tabled in Parliament on Thursday had revealed that Zaharan had proposed that his group should retaliate for the attacks in the Christchurch mosque and the attacks on ISIS in Syria.

Zahran had made this proposal during the discussion he had with other suspects Sameer, Muwath, Jameel on March 27, 2019. On March 25 Muwath had met Sameer who is in custody at the moment and had informed him that the disputes that have arisen between Zaharan and Naufer had to be resolved. Accordingly Sameer and two others have met Muwath and visited a house located at 61/02 down Sheriff Lane. There had been a decision making body named Zoora in this organisation. This comprised 13 persons. A man named Mihan had raised 19 shortcomings on the part of Zahran and had proposed the appointment of Naufer as the leader of the Organisation. Also it has been proposed that the group should be divided into two and function independently of each other. It was proposed that arms should be divided equally among the two groups. A member of pro Zahran group named Ilham had proposed that he funded the organisation because of his respect to Zahran,” the report revealed.

“Zahran had then proposed that some attacks should be carried out in retaliation to the attacks on the Mosque in Christchurch New Zealand and on attacks on ISIS Group in Syria. It had been decided that Rilwan will manufacture bombs while the attacks should be carried out soon as the manufacture of the ammunition will expire within 15 days. Accordingly it was planned to attack Catholic churches and hotels where foreigners gathered. It had also been planned to carry out two attacks especially in churches. One explosion was to be carried out inside churches while the other among the people who were running in fear. An explosive ridden van was parked near St. Anthony's Church, Kochchikade for this purpose,” the report also revealed.(Yohan Perera)