Colombo,apr 28:
President Maithripala Sirisena has banned the activities of two terror groups suspected to be behind the horrific coordinated blasts in Sri Lanka earlier this week that claimed lives of more than 250 people.
Sirisena took the decision under emergency regulations to ban the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), and the splinter group Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim (JMI) in Sri Lanka, Colombo Page reported.”President Maithripala Sirisena, in terms of powers vested in him as the under Emergency Regulations No. 01 of 2019, has taken steps to ban the organizations National Thawheed Jammath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem (JMI) in Sri Lanka,” the President’s Office said in a statement.“All activities of those organisations as well as their property will be seized by the government,” the statement read.This comes after eight explosions rattled churches and high-end hotels located across the Sri Lankan cities of Colombo, Negombo, Kochchikede and Batticaloa as the Christian community celebrated Easter on April 21. More than 500 people were injured in the serial blasts, claimed responsibility by the Islamic State.
Meanwhile, at least 15 people, including six children, were killed in a shootout between police and alleged militants in eastern Sri Lanka’s Kalmunai city on Friday.
Authorities told The New York Times that the wife and one of the children of Zaharan Hashim, the suspected mastermind of the Sunday bombings, had been seriously wounded in the raid and were taken to a hospital.
