International investigators have been arriving in the island to assist local law enforcement to crack down on Islamic State extremists who seem to have been let loose in Sri Lanka creating havoc for a full one week by yesterday.
Counter-terror teams from the FBI and the Interpol are already here together with Forensic experts from Switzerland and Denmark to assist in the investigations, a senior government official told Sunday Observer.
The British and Australian governments have also offered to send in their counter-terror teams but are yet to arrive here. “The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has offered Sri Lankan Police resources and support. AFP assistance includes counter-terrorism investigative, intelligence and forensic resources,” a spokesman for the Australian High Commission said adding that the Sri Lankan Police have accepted this offer. The investigators believe that the local youth who have received training from the Islamic State (IS) Terrorists were responsible for the eight suicide bombings that were carried out on Easter Sunday, killing over 250 civilians including 40 foreign nationals who were holidaying in Sri Lanka. Joint operation forces including the police are on the lookout for remaining members of the terror group with a number of raids reported from islandwide every day.
During an ambush in Ampara on Friday another suicide attack was reported, the ninth since Sunday, and the Friday’s death toll which only limited to the terrorists and their family members accounted for 26.
The Foreign Ministry sources said eight FBI officers and eight officers from the Interpol are already in the country. In addition, a four member Swiss and Danish Forensic teams are here to help identify the badly damaged remains of the victims at the police morgue at the National Hospital. Fourteen foreign nationals are unaccounted for since the Sunday’s blasts and the Foreign Affairs Ministry said they fear the missing might be among the bodies which are yet to be identified.
The sources said the Danish forensic experts were here to carry out DNA tests on the three children of the Danish Fashion Tycoon Anders Holch Povlsen.
The three of his four kids perished in the attacks while staying at the Colombo Shangri-La Hotel. Anders Povlsen sustained injuries to his eye and hand in the attack and received basic treatment at the Colombo National Hospital before being flown to Denmark. The US Embassy in Colombo said ‘following the tragic Easter Sunday attacks, President Trump immediately extended an offer of comprehensive support to Sri Lanka for investigation and recovery efforts’..
The U.S. teams are already working closely with their Sri Lankan partners on efforts including explosives detection, crime scene investigation, and forensic analysis.
The Embassy statement read ‘all activities are at the request of and closely coordinated with Sri Lankan authorities’ while stressing that this ‘cooperation is short term, temporary, and specific to the recent attacks and bringing the perpetrators to justice’.