Police bury nine terrorists

• Six children who died in Kalmunai also laid to rest 
• Zahran’s elder sister arrested 
• Suicide kit without explosives found in Zahran’s brother’s house  
• Search operations continue countrywide  

Police yesterday said bodies of nine terrorists who died in clashes in Kalmunai on Friday were buried along with six children who also died in the standoff.   

The bodies of the ten terrorists were interred without religious rites and so they could be retrieved for future investigations. Muslim religious leaders had refused to preside over the burials and had announced that the terrorists were not considered Muslims. However, police said religious observances had been performed for the six children who were laid to rest.  

Investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks continued with multiple raids being conducted around the country. The elder sister of Zaharan Hashim, who is believed to have masterminded the attacks and died in the Shangri-La attack, was taken into custody by police. The woman identified as Muhammad Cassim Mathathiya had Rs. 2 million in her possession, which police believe to have been given by her brother. 

Police also recovered a suicide kit without explosives when they raided the house belonging to Zahran’s brother Rilwan who died in the Kalmunai clash. Several credit cards and bank account passbooks were among the items that were recovered by police. 

Two suspects were arrested along with 36 sets of white female clothes stuffed in a fertilizer sack and hidden inside a van. It was reported that the van in question had set off to Anuradhapura from Thihariya. The arrestees were two Muslims, aged 41 and 47 years, according to the reports.

Police investigations are being conducted to uncover if these sets of clothes bear similarities of any kind to the white female clothes recovered from Sainthamaruthu area. Anuradhapura Police is probing the incident further.

Meanwhile, in a separate search operation, 14 walkie-talkies were and eight CDs were recovered from a beauty parlour, while two suspects were also arrested in the raid. The seizure was made by the Police Special Task Force on Wednesday night. The said beauty parlour is located on Borupana Road, Ratmalana.   

Nittambuwa Police had launched a search operation upon a tip-off received by the State Intelligence Service. During the search operation, a person named Mohamed Imbran has been arrested in the Kahatowita area in Attanagalla. The police had seized a drone camera, a remote controller, camera equipment, a laptop, and hard disks on the arrested.

The disks had contained videos of Zahran Hashim’s extremist lectures and several photos of terrorists.