No connection with suspected Easter bombings mastermind: Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamath

Colombo (News 1st): Members of Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamath (SLTJ) explained the organization's structure at the Police Headquarters today (April 25). Journalists inquired regarding the suspected mastermind behind the Easter Sunday attacks, Saharan Hashim. When questioned if Saharan was with their organization, Secretary of the SLTJ Abdul Razik noted that they don't have any connection with Saharan. The National Thawheed Jamath and their organization Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamath were two different organizations and have religious disparities don't have common grounds. He added that they are the ones who informed the intelligence units about Saharan's changes in ideologies since 2016 and after 2016 he left the Muslim community and commenced and led his own life. Razik said at that point none of the Muslims or any organization was not able to reach this person directly or continued to have any connections with him. When questioned if he was dead, Razik noted that there is a rumour that he died in the attack and there are pictures being shared on Facebook. However, he added that a person who led such an attack coming forward as a suicide bomber is impractical. He was also questioned regarding the picture published by IS. The Secretay of the SLTJ said the main person in the photograph revealing the face is Saharan. He noted that there is another key partner of Saharan named Naufel Mauvlavi. Abdul Razik suggested that Sri Lanka's armed forces should do a thorough investigation regarding Mauvlavi.