Colombo/Kochi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is continuing its interrogation of the people it had taken into custody in connection with the serial bomb blasts in Sri Lanka. The questioning was taking place in Kochi.
NIA officials indicated that these persons were not directly involved in the blasts. However, one man named Riyaz Aboobacker belonging to Palakkad was interested in the speeches of Sahran Hashim, the main conspirator of the Sri Lankan blasts. Riaz had also shared these speeches on social media. NIA has obtained evidence in this regard.
Officials have also found that the persons in its custody had links with the IS recruitment that took place in Kasaragod. Proof of phone conversations between the persons is also with the investigating agency. Having taken up the matter seriously, NIA will conduct a thorough probe into the matter. In case the agency stumbles on more evidence regarding the IS recruitment case, it plans to arrest these people and charge them with cases.
There were reports that Safran Hashim had visited Kerala some time ago. NIA is looking into this aspect also.
It was on Sunday that NIA officials inspected the houses of some people suspecting their involvement in the blasts. Mobile phones, computers and other items were seized during the raids. Forensic examination of these gadgets will be conducted.
Sri Lankan media has reported that Zahran Hashim, the leader of the National Thowheed Jamath and the alleged mastermind of the Sri Lanka serial blasts, had visited Kerala on several occasions.
The renowned English daily, ‘Daily Mirror’ reported that Zahran Hashim, a firebrand fanatic, made routine trips to Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The reports add that he had come to Panayikkulam, near Aluva, and to Malappuram where he reportedly made incendiary speeches.
India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at three places in Kerala's Kasaragod and Palakkad districts on Sunday soon after this news broke. NIA personnel held checks at two houses in Kasaragod and at one place in the latter district.
In Thiruvananthapuram, a Kerala police official told IANS that the NIA had taken one person from Palakkad district, which borders Tamil Nadu, into custody for further questioning.
NIA officials in Kasaragod also served notice to two people, identified only as Abubacker and Ahamed, to report on Monday at the Kochi NIA office.
It said that mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards, pen drives, diaries with handwritten notes in Arabic and Malayalam, DVDs and books of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, besides untitled DVDs, CDs with religious speeches, books of Syed Kutheb were seized during the searches.
IS owns up
The IS has claimed that three of those killed in the encounter with Sri Lankan forces during a combing operation in the aftermath of the terrorist strike on Easter Sunday which killed 253 people, belonged to their organisation. Fifteen people, including 3 women and 6 children, were killed in this encounter and an explosion then.
This encounter which lasted several hours took place on Friday night in Kalmunai, some 350 km east of Colombo. IS issued a statement to the effect that their members returned fire during the fight before exploding themselves. The three men killed were active members of the IS as revealed through AMAQ News Agency.
The house where the terrorists were holed up during the raid and encounter was taken on rent by three youths hailing from Kattankudy, Batticaloa, on the pretext of setting up a footwear factory. A rich haul of weapons, IS flags and uniforms, TS 56 rifles, suicide kits etc. were seized from the house. It is believed that the video which IS released claiming responsibility of the Colombo attack was shot here.
Meanwhile, police sources and a relative of the suicide bombers told Reuters that the father and two brothers of Zahran Hashim were killed during the encounter.
Zainee Hashim, Rilwan Hashim and their father Mohamed Hashim, who were seen in a video circulating on social media calling for all-out war against non believers, were among 15 killed in the fierce gun battle, four police sources said.
In the video, Rilwan Hashim is seen calling for all out 'jihad', or holy war, while children cry in the background.
"We will destroy these non-believers to protect this land and therefore we need to do jihad," Rilwan says in the video, sitting beside his brother and father.
"We need to teach a proper lesson for these non-believers who have been destroying Muslims."
Hashim had died in the attack on a Colombo hotel - one of the targets during the serial blasts on Easter - and this was confirmed by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena last Friday.
It is suspected that some of the Lankan youths were associated with the IS since around 2013. They are also linked to drug cartels.
More extremists out
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said that more than 130 people with IS links are operating in Sri Lanka. About 10,000 army personnel had been deployed to search for them. The President has already banned the terrorist outfits National Thowheed Jamath and Jamiyyatthul Millath Ibrahim.
Church services yet to resume
The Christian churches which bore the brunt of the terrorist strike on Easter Sunday did not conduct masses today. Cardinal Malcom Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo said that the churches will not conduct Sunday masses till further notice.
The Muslims offered Friday prayers inside their houses.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has directed that all nonessential travel to Sri Lanka should be avoided. Even though the security had been beefed up, the night curfew in force could also cause difficulties in undertaking journeys, the MEA advised.
(With inputs from Reuters, IANS)
