Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


US Charges 3 Sri Lankan Nationals for Role in 2019 Easter Attacks

Sirwan Kajjo

   WASHINGTON - Three Sri Lankan nationals are facing charges in the U.S.
   for supporting an Islamic State cell responsible for the 2019 Easter
   attacks in Sri Lanka that killed 268 people, including five U.S.
   citizens.
   Mohamed Naufar, Mohamed Anwar Mohamed Riskan and Ahamed Milhan Hayathu
   Moahmed were charged last month in federal court in the U.S. city of
   Los Angeles, according to a Justice Department [1]statement issued
   Friday.
   The three men were affiliated with a militant group in Sri Lanka that
   supported the Islamic State (IS) terror group, also known as ISIS. The
   local group, called ISIS in Sri Lanka, has been blamed for a
   coordinated series of suicide bombings at Christian churches and hotels
   in three Sri Lankan cities on April 21, 2019, U.S. prosecutors said.
   "According to these charges, the defendants were committed supporters
   of ISIS, recruited others to ISIS's violent cause, purchased materials
   for and made IEDs [improvised explosive devices], helped to prepare and
   trained others who participated in the attacks, and murdered in the
   name of this deadly foreign terrorist organization," John C. Demers, an
   assistant attorney general who leads the Justice Department's National
   Security Division, said in a statement.
   Naufar, known as the second emir for the IS cell in Sri Lanka,
   allegedly led the group's propaganda efforts, recruited others to join
   IS and led military-type training, according to an FBI criminal
   complaint. Riskan allegedly helped manufacture the IEDs used in the
   Easter attacks, while Hayathu Moahmed allegedly executed a police
   officer in order to obtain firearms, shot a suspected informant, and
   scouted a location for a separate terrorist attack, the complaint
   added.
   All three defendants are being held by authorities in Sri Lanka.

References

   1. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-foreign-nationals-charged-conspiring-provide-material-support-isis

.