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Several women made pledge to carry out suicide attacks

21 Feb, 2021

An investigation has revealed that several women made a pledge to carry out suicide attacks after attending a class led by Easter Sunday attacks mastermind Zahran Hashim.

Police Spokesman, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ajith Rohana said that the revelation was made by a 24-year-old woman who had attended the class.

DIG Ajith Rohana said that on being questioned by the Terrorist Investigations Division (TID), the 24-year-old woman had revealed that 15 women had attended a class led by Zahran Hashim in December 2018.

DIG Ajith Rohana said that the women had made a pledge to Zahran Hashim at the classes in December 2018 to carry out suicide attacks.

Of the 15 women, five women were killed in an explosion in Sainthamaruthu in April 2019, a few days after the Easter Sunday attacks.

Another three women are currently in remand custody while seven women are currently detained and are being questioned by the TID.

The 24-year-old woman is a resident of Mawanella and has been detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

DIG Ajith Rohana said that the father and three brothers of the woman are already in remand.

Hashim was the alleged mastermind behind the bomb attacks that hit the country?s capital Colombo as well as Negombo and Batticaloa on Easter Sunday in 2019.

Over 250 people, including 45 children and 40 foreign nationals, were killed in the deadly explosions.

Videos and speeches of Hashim were also used by jihadi gangs to radicalise youth in Tamil Nadu calling for violent jihad to liberate their associates lodged in prisons.?(Colombo Gazette)

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