Suspected Lanka attack mastermind spent 'substantial time in India'

Mohammad Zahran Hashim - the suspected mastermind of the Sri Lankan Easter bombings - spent a "substantial amount of time in south India", The Hindu reported on Friday citing a top source within the Sri Lankan military.

"We are looking into the IS angle. We also suspect that some of those radical youth (suspected bombers) were indoctrinated and trained in India, possibly Tamil Nadu," revealed the senior military official, who wished to remain anonymous.

While Indian officials did not state that Hashim had travelled to India, they did point out that he had maintained virtual links with youth believed to be of Indian origin, said The Hindu.

Hashim's ties with south India were also confirmed by Hilmy Ahamed, vice-president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka.

"Hashim had shifted base to southern India," he told AFP, adding that "all his videos have been uploaded from India. He uses boats of smugglers to travel back and forth from southern India."

The militant Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the terror attacks that left more than 250 dead, and also released a picture showing eight suspected bombers. Among them, the only man seen with his face uncovered is believed to be Hashim.

Hashim was identified by investigators as the leader of the National Thowheed Jamaath, the group believed to have executed the highly coordinated series of explosions last Sunday that saw over 250 people killed. However, it later appeared that he might have broken off from the NTJ and founded another extremist outfit that assisted with the attacks.

However, more than a hundred of Hashim's Facebook followers are being scrutinised, said an official on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan police have entered the main mosque of National Towheed Jamaat, just a day after authorities declared it and another organization terror groups over the Easter suicide bombings.

Police entered the mosque, located in Kattankudy in eastern Sri Lanka, on Sunday afternoon and stopped an interview with foreign journalists and officials at the mosque.

Later, a senior police officer dispersed journalists waiting outside, saying authorities were conducting a "cordon and search operation."

Police then left, locking up the mosque just before afternoon prayers were to start.

Authorities banned National Towheed Jamaat over its ties to Mohammed Zahran, the alleged mastermind of the attacks that killed over 250 people a week ago.

The Islamic State group has claimed three of the militants killed in a shootout with police in eastern Sri Lanka.

In a statement published early Sunday by the extremists' Aamaq news agency, IS gave their noms du guerre as Abu Hammad, Abu Sufyan and Abu al-Qa'qa.

It says they opened fire with automatic weapons and "after exhausting their ammunition, detonated on them their explosive belts."

IS falsely claimed their militants killed 17 "disbelievers" in the attack. The militants often exaggerate their claims.