After a fierce gun battle between the Sri Lankan police and suspected militants, 15 bodies have been recovered from Sainthamaruthu, south of the coastal town of Batticaloa.
Accrding to a report in the BCC, place is not far from the home town of the suspected ringleader of last Sunday’s suicide attacks.
The report further added that officers acting on a tip-off had launched a raid on Friday night in Ampara Sainthamaruthu and the armed group set off an explosion which triggered the gun battle.
In another raid in the same town, the police found Islamic State (IS) flags, 150 sticks of gelignite, thousands of steel pellets and a drone camera, a military spokesman said.
On Friday, 10 people were arrested from across the country bringing the number detained since the Easter Sunday bombings to 80.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has cancelled all Sunday Masses until further notice following the bombings.
Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Ranjith said he had seen a leaked security document warning of further attacks. He also said he had felt “betrayed” after it emerged that the government had failed to act on warnings of the bombings.
In the aftermath of the Sri Lanka bombings, Muslim refugees have fled from the coastal city of Negombo where communal tensions have flared in recent days.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Pakistani Muslims fled the multi-ethnic port an hour north of the capital, Colombo. Crammed into buses organised by community leaders and police, they left fearing for their safety after threats of revenge from locals, reported the Reuters.
Recently, The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the bombings.
The video, purportedly from Al Ghuraba Media, which is not an official IS channel but is believed to be run by supporters of IS, featured the chilling message, “This bloody day is our reward to you.”
Earlier, the Deputy Defence Minister of Sri Lanka had said that the attacks were carried out ‘in retaliation of Christchurch’.
“The preliminary investigations have revealed that what happened in Sri Lanka (on Sunday) was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch,” Wijewardene told parliament.
50 people were killed in New Zealand’s Christchurch in a attack on two mosques recently.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Sri Lanka has risen to 310 and more than 40 people have been arrested. on April 22, Sri Lanka’s Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said the bombings were carried out by a local group identified as the National Thowheed Jamaath, without elaborating on evidence.
