Insta
Swarajya Staff
Apr 24, 2019, 02:57 PM | Updated 02:57 PM IST
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Two days after the deadly Sri Lanka bombings on Easter Sunday, the Islamic State has released three statements and a video claiming responsibility for the coordinated terror attacks in which at least 359 people have been killed, Long War Journal reported.
The terror group’s news agency Amaq released a bulletin on Tuesday (23 April) claiming they had been carried out by “Islamic State fighters”. The statement said that the bombings had been intended to target Christians, as well as citizens of countries belonging to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
The agency also released another statement identifying the seven suicide bombers by their assumed combat name.
Amaq subsequently published a video showing eight men said to be the perpetrators of serial bombing in Sri Lanka pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.
The video was shared on Twitter by noted commentator on political and religious issues Imam Tawhidi.
#BREAKING: ISIS releases the very video of the 7-8 terrorists pledging their allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the Caliph of ISIS, before attacking Sri Lanka. This means Al-Baghdadi is alive and well as allegiance cannot be pledged to a dead Caliph. pic.twitter.com/d0AkWm4G3x
— Imam Mohamad Tawhidi (@Imamofpeace) April 23, 2019
Only one individual is unmasked in the video and he appears to be Zahran Hashim, a fiery Tamil speaking Islamic ideologue who is known to peddled his hateful message through online videos calling for the killing of Kaffirs.
Zahran Hasim, the alleged suicide bomber who went off in Shangri-la, issues a stern warning to Bhudhdhists in one of his videos...
— Ethirajan Srinivasan (@Ethirajans) April 23, 2019
You all will witness 1000s of suicide bombers coming to send you all to hell, and your forces, intelligence can do nothing before them... horrible! pic.twitter.com/5jjKytWL8I