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The multiple April 21, 2019 bombings in Sri Lanka, which targeted a number of churches and
hotels, as well as other locations, and in which more than 290 people were killed and over
500 were wounded, appear to have been coordinated by a foreign Islamic terrorist
organization. Supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) have taken to Telegram to celebrate the
bombers, at least several of them being suicide bombers. A Kashmiri pro-ISIS channel
mentioned a poster that had been released on April 20, one day before the attacks, by the
pro-ISIS Indonesian media outlet Ash-Shaff Foundation.
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Another pro-ISIS media outlet, the Ash Shaff News Agency (which may or may not be linked
to the Ash-Shaff Foundation) celebrated the attack with several sarcastic posts. After
providing information on the explosions in English and Indonesian, it commented: "What great
news and bad news for kuffar [unbelievers]. Ok Mr Kuffar, Welcome and enjoy in Jahannam
[Hell]. HAHA..."
In a later post, after quoting media sources
that blamed the blasts on the Islamist group
National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ), whose
members include jihadis returned from Syria,
Ash Shaff commented: "Ok Mr Terrorist, what
a great job, we SALUTE You!" Following the
seventh and eighth explosions, the media
outlet posted: "Looks like the party is getting
more exciting, nice weekend yaa Kuffar idiot!
LOL.”
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ISIS Claims Responsibility For Sri Lanka Attacks
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ISIS Supporter Shares Photos Of
Alleged Sri Lanka Bombers
On April 23, 2019, shortly before the Islamic
State (ISIS) 'Amaq news agency published
the ISIS claim of responsibility for the
coordinated attacks in Sri Lanka two days
earlier, an ISIS media activist on Telegram
published photographs of three armed Sri
Lankan men posing in front of a banner used
by ISIS. He claimed that they were three of
the bombers who carried out the attacks in
Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019. The
accompanying caption indicates that all three
are dead.