‘Anti-Muslim Riots A Possible Trigger'

Sri Lankan officials believe that communal tensions could have motivated the Easter attacks suspects

The spate of anti-Muslim violence in Sri Lanka in recent years could have been a reason for more youth to turn radical and mobilise, according to a top Sri Lankan military intelligence source.

“While screening records of conversations among the suspects, we found references to the communal tensions in the recent past. They have spoken of the need to retaliate. We believe those tensions could have been a motivation,” the source, playing a key role in the investigations, told The Hindu on Friday. While authorities are probing different angles to the suspects’ possible links to the Islamic State, which has claimed the attacks, they are simultaneously examining the youths’ local context and environment that may have contributed to their veering into a radical path.