Sri Lankan police raid Islamist group suspected of suicide bombings

Sri Lankan armed police on Sunday launched a search of the headquarters of an Islamist group, National Thawheedh Jamaath, suspected of being behind the suicide bombings on churches and hotels that killed more than 250 people, a Reuters witness said.

The raid took place at the NTJ's base in the eastern town of Kattankudy a day after the group was banned under new emergency laws. Police believe that Zahran Hashim, the alleged mastermind of the Easter Sunday attacks, led the group or a splinter faction to mount the attacks in Colombo as well as a church in Batticaloa in the east.