Mastermind behind Sri Lanka Easter bombings Zahran Hashim trained in India: report

KARACHI: Zahran Hashim, the mastermind behind Sri Lanka's  Easter Day bombings was trained in India, The Hindu reported on Saturday.

Over 250 people lost their lives when suicide bombers attacked three Churches and and and as many luxury  hotels last Sunday.

 Islamic State militant group, also known as Daesh, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Quoting a top military official in Sri Lanka,  the leading English language newspaper reported  Zahran Hashim spent substantial time in south India.

The report said  Indian officials have pointed to evidence that Zahran Hashim , a leader of National Thawheed Jama’ut, had virtual links with youth believed to be of Indian origin.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday  told reporters Zahran Hashim was killed at one of the Colombo hotels targeted. 

"What intelligence agencies have told me is that Zahran was killed during the Shangri-La attack," he said.

Police said they found an IS flag, the backdrop and the clothes the men wore for their video in the studio in the town of Sammanthurai, 370 kilometres (231 miles) east of the capital.

Authorities have focused their investigations on international links to two domestic groups — National Thawheed Jama’ut and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim — they believe carried out the attacks.

Hashim, founder of  National Thawheed Jama’ut, appeared in a video released by IS propaganda news agency as it  claimed the bombing.

The video shows the terrorist leading seven others in a pledge of allegiance to Baghdadi.