Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has denied allegations in a British television program that Islamic State-inspired extremists were used to carry out suicide bomb attacks in 2019 to create insecurity in the country and help him win election later that year.
National Thowheed Jamath is accused of carrying out six suicide bomb attacks on Easter Sunday in 2019 which targeted churches and tourist hotels and killed 269 people. The attacks revived memories of frequent suicide bombings during the country’s quarter-century civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels which ended 10 years earlier in 2009.
Maulana said he arranged a meeting in 2018 between Islamic State-inspired extremists and a top intelligence officer at the behest of his boss at the time, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, the leader of the rebel breakaway group who later became a politician. He said Chandrakanthan arranged for Maulana to help obtain Hashim’s release by providing him with legal and financial assistance.
After security camera videos of the bombings were released, Maulana said he saw that the attackers carrying bomb-laden backpacks were people he had arranged to meet with the intelligence officer.
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