Discrepancies in Sri Lanka attack muddle investigation
Associated PressCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Hour by hour the death toll from Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bombing attacks climbed. “If you can’t count the dead, how can you take care of the living, especially those who pose a threat?” Sri Lanka’s top officials have acknowledged that intelligence units were aware of threats by the militant group blamed for the attack — National Towheed Jamaat — weeks ahead of the Easter blasts. Priyalal Disanayaka, the deputy inspector general of police, sent a memo to the directors of four Sri Lankan security agencies on April 11, identifying Mohammed Zaharan as the leader of “National Thawheek Jaman.” The report attached to the memo, though, identified the group as “National Towheed Jamaar” and said its leader was Zahran Hashmi. Officials have also contradicted themselves on possible ties to the Islamic State group and the motive for the attack, the worst violence in Sri Lanka since its brutal civil war ended a decade ago. Sri Lanka’s state minister of defense said Tuesday that the Easter Sunday bombings of churches and hotels were “carried out in retaliation” for attacks blamed on a white supremacist on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March.