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INDIA Advises Its Citizens to Avoid Travelling To Sri Lanka Post Bomb Blasts by Terrorists

In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has issued an advisory urging Indian citizens to avoid travelling to Sri Lanka which was rattled by a series of bomb blast in three churches and as many luxury hotels killing more than 350 persons and injuring 500 last Sunday. The advisory issued by the MEA said, “In view of the prevailing security situation in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of terror attacks on 21 April 2019, Indian nationals intending to travel to Sri Lanka are advised not to undertake non-essential travel.””The Government of Sri Lanka has beefed up the security in the country. A nation-wide emergency including night curfew is in place at present which may also affect travel within Sri Lanka,” it added. In Colombo, SRI Lanka President Maithripala Srisena has banned the activities of two terror groups suspected to be behind the horrific coordinated blasts in the island nation. Sirisena has taken the decision under emergency regulations to ban the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), and the splinter group Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim (JMI) in Sri Lanka.“All activities of those organisations as well as their property will be seized by the government,” the statement read issued by his office said. 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.Meanwhiel,  father and two brothers of the suspected mastermind of Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bombings were killed when security forces stormed their safe house two days ago, police sources and a relative of the suicide bombers told Reuters on Sunday.Zainee Hashim, Rilwan Hashim and their father Mohamed Hashim, who were seen in a video circulating on social media calling for all-out war against non believers, were among 15 killed in a fierce gun battle with the military on the east coast on Friday, four police sources said. GOI has issued alert to the South Indian states saying some groups may try to create law and order problem in the aftermath of the horrendous incident in the Buddhist dominated nation. A Sri Lanka Government website says most of an estimated 22 million Sinhalese are Buddhists and most Tamils are Hindus. The Malays and Moors are Muslim, the majority of whom practice Sunni Islam. Sizable minorities of both Sinhalese and Tamils are Christians, most of whom are Roman Catholics. Meanwhile, Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Ifran Ahmed, the elder brother of two suicide bombers, who blew themselves up at two hotels had been arrested by the STF during a raid in Dematagoda this morning. At least 15 persons including suicide bomber were killed following the explosion that took place in a house in Kalmunai where a gun battle also occurred last night, reports Daily Mirror. Among the bodies recovered inside the house, there were three men, three women and six children. Three more bodies of men suspected to be suicide bombers were also found outside the house. Police said there were no casualties of armed forces personnel. The Police suspect a suicide bomber had triggered the explosion. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said that the Police and the Special Task Force (STF) received a tip from a police constable who was on traffic duty about a house with a group of suspicious people (Edited by Pranab Kumar Chakravarty with inputs from various sources).

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