After Sri Lanka attacks, NIA raids 3 Kerala houses looking for links  

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency, on Sunday, searched the houses of three suspects in north Kerala as part of the international probe into the Easter Day suicide bombings in Sri Lanka.

According to sources from the State police, the NIA appeared to have inspected private residences in Kasargod and Palakkad after evidence emerged that the targets of their probe had avidly followed Zahran Hashim on social media, who is believed to be the mastermind of the attacks that claimed hundreds of lives.

Officials said law enforcement agencies across the world, like the NIA and the FBI, had been digging up the digital trail left behind by Hashim on social media, which he zealously used to recruit persons to his global jihadist cause. However, the NIA had not booked anyone, possibly due to lack of proof of complicity in the attacks.

The official’s said, NIA’s investigations into the alleged affiliates of the now notorious National Towheeth Jamaat (NTJ), a construct of Hashim to unleash terror in mainland India, were still at a nascent stage.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka put a ban on covering of the face with veils, in a manner that prevents identification of a person. A statement from the Sri Lankan President’s Media Division, on Sunday, put the ban under emergency regulations. And the father and two brothers of Zahran Hashim, who is believed to have led the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, were killed in a gun battle between troops and suspects in the eastern Ampara district, the police said, on Sunday.

 However, the island remains on high alert since the attacks on Easter Sunday, with the military deploying nearly 10,000 soldiers across provinces. Schools, universities and several commercial establishments are closed.

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