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Friday Apr 19, 2024
Monday, 29 April 2019 00:57 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Government yesterday decided to discontinue curfew assuring a return to normalcy following dozens of arrests including the elder brother of the suicide bombers responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks.
The Government discontinued customary curfew on Sunday but maintained indefinite curfew for Sammanthurai, Kalmunai, and Chawalakade as security operations continued.
A man identified as Ibrahim Mohammad Ifthan carrying two swords was arrested by police in Dematagoda. He is said to be the elder brother of Insaf and Illham Ibrahim who have been named as being responsible for the blasts at Cinnamon Grand and Shangri-La Hotel respectively.
During police search operations on the Dematagoda apartment, police cracked open a safe and found three sapphires estimated to be worth about Rs. 30 million, about Rs. 10 million in local money and some jewellery.
The woman and child found injured in the safe house in Kalmunai where 15 people died on Friday evening were identified as terror mastermind Zahran Hashim’s wife and daughter. Their names were given as Abdul Cader Fatima Sadia and the four-year old daughter as Mohammad Zahran Rusaina. The two were identified by Zahran’s sister and her husband at the Ampara hospital.
The three men in the undated video that was circulated on social media believed to have been filmed before the Easter Sunday attacks have been identified as Zahran’s father and two brothers. They were named as Zainee Hashim, Rilwan Hashim and the father Mohamad Hashim by Reuters, who also said the child that appeared in the video had also died.
Of the list of six people released on Thursday that police wanted public assistance to find the two brothers Mohamed Iwuhaim Saadiq Abdul Haq and Mohamed Iwuhaim Shahid Abdul Haq, who were arrested by police in Nawalapitiya inside a shoe shop believed to be owned by a relative, who was also arrested by police. They had been locked inside the shop with food and water by the owner who had subsequently left, police said. Camouflage clothes similar to army uniforms had been found in the house of the relative along with a van believed to have transported the two brothers to Nawalapitiya.
A 57-year old man was arrested with six petrol bombs from a mosque that comes under the purview of the National Thowheed Jamaath at Wahunkowa in Daulagala last night. Police said the suspect would be detained for further questioning. Two others were arrested in Galle with 849 CDs of extremist propaganda.
Security forces on Saturday arrested the driver of Zahran Hashim which led to the recovery of a revolver that is believed to have been owned by one of the two policemen killed in Vavunathivu in December 2018. A fresh search operation in the Wanathvilluwa farm where explosives were found in January resulted in a revolver being found, police confirmed.
