COLOMBO – Zahran Hashim, who is believed to have masterminded the Easterattacks in Sri Lanka, spent substantial time in southern India, a top SriLankan military source, reported The Hindu on Friday.
Investigators identified Hashim as the leader of the National TauheedJamaath, which they said executed the highly coordinated blasts in theIndian Ocean island nation.
Two days later, the militant Islamic State claimed responsibility for theattacks and subsequently released an image of eight suspected bombers. Theman seen standing at the centre is believed to be Hashim. The othermilitants had covered their faces with a scarf.
Sri Lankan investigators, however, have identified nine suicide bombers,including a woman. “We are looking into the Islamic State angle. We alsosuspect that some of those radical youth were indoctrinated and trained inIndia, possibly Tamil Nadu,” the senior official said, on condition ofanonymity.
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Indian officials would not comment on Hashim travelling to India butpointed to evidence of virtual links he maintained with youth believed tobe of Indian origin.
More than 100 followers of Hashim’s Facebook page are being investigated,said an official, who asked not to be named. The first hints of Hashim’sdoctrinal videos, to likely radicalise youth, emerged when Indianauthorities interrogated seven members of a group whose leader, officialsfound, was a follower of Hashim.
