ISIS has now claimed responsibility for the horrific Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka that killed at least 321 people.
An image surfaced of three men said to be among the suicide bombers with a flag of the terror group ISIS in the backdrop.
The three Islamic terrorists are raising their index fingers in a common salute among ISIS extremists, according to the IB Times.
Intelligence agencies believe the three men were part of the terror attacks that killed 300 people, mostly Christian, and injured 400 at Christian churches and Western hotels on Easter morning in Sri Lanka, according to the Times of India.
“The given names are typical of how IS identifies its Inghemasis (fighters) after they pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. But Ubaida figuring in these pictures, which have the same background, does indicate that NTJ had direct affiliation with IS,” an intelligence officer was quoted as saying by the news outlet.
According to the International Business Times, the three terrorists in the photo released by a pro-ISIS TV channel have been identified as Abu Ubaida, Abul Barra and Abul Mukhtar.
Ubaida, also known as Zahran Hashin, is said to be an operative for the National Thowheed Jamath, a jihadi group in Sri Lanka, the Times of India reports.
Officials said that both the National Thowheed Jamath and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim were responsible for the attacks, claiming they were retaliation for shootings at mosques in New Zealand.
In one of the images, Ubaida is the one with his face uncovered, clutching an assault rifle, while the others are wearing black and white scarves.
ISIS’s news agency Amaq posted the picture on Twitter identifying seven of the attackers as Abu Ubayda, Abu al-Mukhtar, Abu Khalil, Abu Hamza, Abu al-Bara’a, Abu Muhammad, and Abu Abdullah.
“The perpetrators of the attack that targeted nationals of the countries of the coalitions and Christians in Sri Lanka before yesterday are fighters from the Islamic State,” according to a translation of a statement released by the terror group’s Amaq news agency.
Over a dozen suspects were arrested following the bombings.
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