He wanted to carry out attack in India

An alleged follower of Sri Lankan bombing mastermind Zahran Hashim was set to appear before an Indian court yesterday after admitting he wanted to carry out an attack in India, investigators said.

India has been concerned about Islamist extremists on its soil for some time and the April 21 Sri Lanka bombings that killed 253 people has left authorities alarmed that India might be at risk of a jihadist attack.

The Indian national, identified as Riyas A, alias Riyas Aboobacker, 29, was arrested on Monday by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), which handles counter-terrorism cases.

During interrogation, he “disclosed that he has been following speeches/videos of Zahran Hashim of Sri Lanka for more than a year”, an NIA statement said.

“He admitted that he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala,” a southern Indian state, it added.

Hashim was a Sri Lankan Muslim preacher who led the coordinated Easter Sunday suicide attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, in one of the world’s deadliest terrorist attacks.

Military sources have said Hashim was not known to have visited Syria or Iraq, but travelled to India’s Tamil Nadu state, which borders Kerala, and had been in contact with Islamists there.

Hashim also appeared in a video released by the Islamic State group, showing him leading others in pledging allegiance to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

IS has claimed responsibility for the Sri Lanka attacks.

India had warned Sri Lanka that suicide attacks were possible weeks before.

The NIA said that it arrested Riyas “for conspiring to commit a terrorist act” in connection with a 2016 case against an Indian man wanted, along with others, for leaving India to join IS abroad.

Riyas had allegedly been in online contact with that suspect, Abdul Rashid Abdulla, alias Abu Isa, and followed his online audio posts including one “instigating others to carry out terror attacks in India”, NIA said.

LANKA TO RESUME MASS

Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church said public masses will resume Sunday under tight security.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said the Church was closely monitoring investigations into the April 21 suicide attacks and wanted to be sure of the security situation before returning to daily services.

“On the 5th of May we are going to begin (Sunday) masses,” he told AFP yesterday.

“But we will start with a smaller number of masses and see if we can slowly increase it depending on how the situation develops.”

Armed guards and an armoured personnel carrier have been placed outside his Colombo residence as part of his security arrangements.

But he said he has returned a bullet-proof limousine provided by the government and instead travelled in an ordinary car.

“I am not afraid. I don’t need bullet-proof vehicles to go about. The Lord is my protector,” he said. “But, I want security for my people, and for the country.”

The cardinal also said, “We don’t know the progress of the investigations. We are told that they have good information from suspects in custody, but I am not sure if they have the capacity to follow up.”

He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe telephoned him yesterday morning to assure him that search operations were being conducted and that there was no let-up.

Police said they have arrested over 150 suspects and have accounted for all six suspects who were declared as most-wanted on a list issued following the attacks.

Two suspects have been killed while the other four were in custody.