We don’t accept FBI conclusion: Catholic Church Spokesman

• This is not something new as the FBI came out with this conclusion some years ago

By Yohan Perera

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka does not have much to say about the conclusion which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that Zahran Hashim was the master mind behind the bomb attacks on Easter Sunday 2019 as it has already rejected it, a spokesman for the church said yesterday.   

“We don’t bother to comment much on the FBI report as we don’t accept that conclusion.” National Catholic Mass Communications Director Fr. Jude Krishantha told Daily Mirror.   

“This is not something new as the FBI came out with this conclusion some years ago,” he added.   

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka came up with fresh demands with regard to Easter Sunday attacks on April 21 this year. The church therefore called for the setting up of an independent prosecution office, end Deep State activities and to table the entire report of the Presidential commission which probed the Easter Sunday attacks in Parliament. The church claimed that some parts of the report were held back. Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith came up with these demands at a function held to mark the sixth anniversary of the attack.   

It was reported that the Federal (FBI) of the United States, which conducted investigations into the serial bombings on Easter Sunday in 2019, has clearly mentioned Zahran Hashim as the mastermind of the attack.   

“Before detonating the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) that killed himself and scores of victims, Zahran Mohamed Cassim also known as (aka) Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Zahran aka Zahran Hashim was the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday attacks and the self-proclaimed leader of ISIS in Sri Lanka, FBI Special Agent Merrilee R.Goodwin said in an affidavit related to the criminal case filed on December 11, 2020, in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.   The FBI assisted Sri Lankan authorities in the wake of the suicide bombings that targeted Christian churches and luxury hotels frequented by Westerners. In the attack, 268 persons were killed, and over 500 injured. Among the killed were five US citizens.