One of the suicide attackers involved in the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka used to study in the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka's State Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th April, 2019) One of the suicide attackers involved in the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka used to study in the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka's State Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said on Wednesday."We believe one of the suicide bombers studied in the UK and then maybe later on did his postgraduate in Australia, before coming back to settle in Sri Lanka," Wijewardene said at a briefing, as quoted by the SkyNews broadcaster.
He also stressed that most of the attackers were well educated and had studied abroad. They also came from middle or upper middle class families and were financially independent.
According to SkyNews, the minister also revealed that there had been nine attackers. Eight have already been identified, with one of whom being a woman.
One of the suicide bombers was former UK student Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, Sky news reported citing security sources.
He is believed to have studied in the southeast of England between 2006 and 2007 and later did postgraduate studies in Australia before returning to live in Sri Lanka, according to the broadcaster.
On Easter Sunday, Sri Lanka was shaken by a series of coordinated attacks that left 359 people dead and over 500 injured. Colombo launched a massive security operation in the wake of the tragedy, and, as of Monday, at least 24 people have been detained in connection with the attacks. The authorities also imposed curfews and deployed an extra 1,000 troops to the capital.
The Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia) reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks on Tuesday.
