Islamic State claims Sri Lanka carnage

IANS  |  Colombo 

The Islamic State on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the Sunday bombings in that left at least 321 people dead and more than 500 injured.

A statement on the group's official news agency made the claim on the encrypted messaging app Telegram saying the suicide bombers were "fighters of the Islamic State".

The group did not provide any evidence to back the claim, said.

The statement came after an unconfirmed video posted to earlier by an group strongly suggested that the Islamic State was behind the horror.

The video showed photos of three of the alleged suicide bombers.

The men, who are described as "assailants" rather than the more common "martyrs", were named as Abul Barra, and and featured in front of a black IS flag giving the one-finger salute, the news.com of said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sri Lanka's said the Sunday attacks were a "retaliation" for last month's Christchurch mosque shooting.

--IANS

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First Published: Tue, April 23 2019. 16:38 IST