Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bomb attacks were retaliation for a recent attack on mosques in New Zealand, a Sri Lankan official said on Tuesday, adding two domestic Islamist groups were believed to be responsible.
“The initial investigation has revealed that this was in retaliation for the New Zealand mosque attack,” junior minister for defence Ruwan Wijewardene told parliament.
“It was done by National Thawheed Jama’ut along with JMI,” he said, referring to another local group, Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim.
Death toll climbs to 321
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan police detained a Syrian among 40 others for questioning about the attacks on Tuesday as the toll from the coordinated bomb attacks rose to 321.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which officials said were carried out by at least seven suicide bombers on three churches and four hotels.
About 500 people were also wound.
