ADVERTISEMENT

2 sons of a wealthy spice trader are believed to be among the bombers responsible for the Sri Lanka Easter Sunday attacks

Police sources told AFP on Tuesday that two sons of a wealthy spice trader are believed to be among the suicide bombers involved in the Sri Lanka Easter Sunday attacks.

sri lanka hotel bombing
  • The two brothers who have not been named are said to be behind the bombings at the upscale Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels.
  • According to the report, one of their wives detonated another device when authorities showed up at another address, killing herself, her two children and three police commandos in the process.
  • Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

Two sons of a wealthy Colombo spice trader are believed to be among the suicide bombers responsible for the Sri Lanka Easter Sunday attacks, according to AFP .

Officials also told the wire service that three police commandos died when the wife of one of the Muslim brothers set off a device at another address while cops were investigating the attacks.

Police sources did not name the two men when they spoke to the AFP on Tuesday, but they said the brothers are in their late 20s and operated their own "family cell."

ADVERTISEMENT

They are said to have each targeted the upscale Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels in Colombo where many were killed on Sunday while eating breakfast.

One of the brothers reportedly gave a false identity when he checked into his hotel, but the other brother gave a real address in a commercial area of Colombo. When officers showed up to investigate the address, one brother's wife detonated another device, killing herself, her two children and three police commandos, one officer told AFP.

The whereabouts of the brothers' parents are not known at this time, according to the report, but it appears that they may have known what the two were planning.

ADVERTISEMENT

"What we have gathered so far is that they had indicated to their close family what they were going to do," a senior police officer told the outlet.

It's still unclear what link they had to the other bombers.

One official source said the focus of the investigation into the brothers will be on how the children of a wealthy family became radicalized and whether that radicalization had a foreign influence.

"It looks like they were inspired by foreign terrorist groups, but to what extent they had direct links is still unclear," the source said.

ADVERTISEMENT

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT