Key suspect in Easter Sunday bombings arrested in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan police on Sunday arrested a key suspect in the last year's devastating Easter Sunday terror attack that killed over 250 people. The suspect was arrested from the Colombo suburb of Mount Lavinia and was the handler of the suicide bomber who carried out the blast at the Zion church in the eastern town of Batticaloa while the Easter Sunday mass was going on, police spokesman Jaliya Senaratne said.

He had provided lodging and transport to the suicide bomber, the official said. The bomber was part of the nine-member suicide-squad belonging to local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS that carried out a series of devastating blasts, tearing through three churches and as many luxury hotels on the Easter Sunday, killing 258 people, including 11 Indians.

The police had arrested over 200 suspects in connection with the attacks.

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