According to Sri Lankan media reports, two of the blasts were suspected to have been carried out by suicide bombers. Although nobody has claimed responsibility, some reports suspect the role of National Thouheed Jama’ath (NTJ). Inspired by extremist Wahabism school of thought, have been targeting churches and other locals in Kattankudy and other areas where Muslims are in good number.
Thouheed Jama’ath has an Indian counterpart operating from Tamil Nadu. The organisation, which propagates Wahabi ideology, had earlier issued a fatwa, asking Muslims to boycott products of Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali.
According to media, the police had sounded high alert for sometime fearing suicide attempts by this extremist group. AFP also reported that Sri Lankan police seized a haul of explosives and detonators in January after arresting four men belonging to this group.
Radicalisation has been happening at a fast pace in the island nation that a large number of youths from Sri Lanka had gone to Syria to fight jihad. Sri Lanka has some ‘terror enclaves’ where recruits for jihad are given training. It is believed that many youths who joined Islamic State from Kerala had interned in Sri Lanka.
While 70% of Sri Lankans are Buddhists, Muslims constitute 10% and about 7.5% are Christian. Hindus make up about 12.5% of the population.
Thouheed Jama’ath in Tamil Nadu
Thouheed Jama’ath has an Indian counterpart mainly operating in Tamil Nadu. The organisation also propagates Wahabi ideology had some time ago issued a fatwa, asking Muslims to boycott products of Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali. Tamil youths who were attracted by Islamic State were radicalised by this organisation.
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