US alleges foreign links in Sri Lanka attack
Ambassador cites scale of onslaught as evidence of external involvement as IS claims responsibility
Colombo — The scale and sophistication of the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka suggested the involvement of an external group such as Islamic State (IS), the US ambassador said on Wednesday, as the death toll from the bombings rose to 359. The IS militant group claimed responsibility for the co-ordinated attacks on three churches and four hotels, and details have begun to emerge of a band of nine, well-educated suicide bombers, including a woman, from well-to-do families. Sri Lankan officials have blamed two domestic Islamist groups with suspected ties to IS. “If you look at the scale of the attacks, the level of co-ordination, the sophistication of them, it’s not implausible to think there are foreign linkages,” the US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz, told reporters in Colombo. “Exploring potential linkages is going to be part of investigations,” she said. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation and military were supporting the investigation, she sa...
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