Easter attack update -Plans to attack the dalada pererhera
Posted on July 23rd, 2020
Courtesy Hiru News
It has now been revealed that the extremists had a plan to launch a second attack targeting the Sri Dalada Perahera in Kandy after the Easter Sunday attack.
A State Intelligence official working in the Eastern Province testified for the second day yesterday in connection with the Inquiry of the Presidential Commission into the series of explosions that took place in a Syndamardu house after the Easter attack.
He said that Shibli Farooq, a former Eastern Provincial Councilor representing the Muslim Congress, had given strong political support to the National Tawheed Jamaat led by Saharan Hashim.
He also stated that Attorney-at-Law Maithri Gunaratne appeared for Saharan in the case before the Batticaloa Magistrate’s Court regarding the Aliyar clash between Saharan and another group.
He further stated that Attorney-at-Law Maithri Gunaratne has been taken from Colombo by the brother of Saharan Hashim’s wife Abdul Cader Ansar.
The intelligence officer also revealed that the terrorists had a clear plan to launch a second attack after the April 21 attack last year.
According to Naufar Mawlavi, who was arrested after the Easter attack, the target of the second attack was the Dalada Perahera.
However, he pointed out to the commission that Saharan’s brother Rilwan Hashim had told them after the Easter attack that if he could not hide until then, he would target temples.
According to the intelligence sources, the terrorists had prepared explosives and ammunition as well as white cloths from a Giriulla clothing store for the second attack.
Twelve people, including the elderly who died at the Sainda Mardu house after the Easter attack, have been preparing for a second attack.
It was also revealed that they had bought 08 houses in the Ampara district to hide until August, the State Intelligence Officer said.
He also concluded by stating that if the second attack planed on the Dalada Perahera had not been prevented by the State Intelligence Service, it would not have been possible to imagine the devastation that would have been caused.