As details emerge about the terrorists at the centre of Sri Lanka’s horrific Easter Sunday attack, the pregnant wife of one of the men involved has detonated a suicide vest during a police raid on her house.
The blast killed herself, her two children, and three police officers.
Sri Lanka’s Deputy Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene told a press conference the explosion occurred as police raided the affluent family’s home in Colombo.
The woman was the wife of one of the two sons of a wealthy spice merchant – both of whom are believed to have coordinated the attacks.
One of the brothers, Inshaf Ibrahim, the 33-year-old owner of a coppery factory, reportedly took out the suicide bombing of the Shangri-La hotel.
The ABC reports he openly expressed extremist ideologies and had been involved in meetings of National Tawheed Jamaath, a local Islamist group suspected of planning the attacks, according to a source close to the family.
His entrepreneur brother, Ilham, 31, was more moderate in his views, and was known to be generous with donations to his staff and struggling local households, the source said.
The brothers lived together in a wealthy suburb of Colombo, in a house described in reports as “lavish” and “ostentatious”.
Their father, Mohamed Ibrahim – a powerful and well-known member of the community – was arrested as police investigated those behind the attacks, police said.
“He was famous in the area for helping the poor with food and money. It’s unthinkable his children could have done that,” neighbour Fathima Fazla said.
Another neighbour – who identified herself by her first name Taybeh – said the neighbourhood were deeply saddened by the family’s involvement in the deadly terror plot.
“Not only for Muslims, the whole community, the whole of Sri Lanka, everybody is our brothers and sisters, everybody who has passed away are our brothers and sisters,” she said, adding that many people in the area are living in fear.
“I have a small brother, he was very afraid, all the kids in the lane, they were very afraid, my small brother — he is not even going to the bathroom by himself.”
During the press conference, Deputy Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene revealed details of the brothers’ suicide bomber accomplices, describing them as well-educated and from wealthy families.
Some had law degrees, and all were Sri Lankan, he added.
One had studied in Australia before returning to settle in Sri Lanka.
Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed studied in the UK before undertaking postgraduate study in Melbourne.
The death toll from the attack has been reported as 359 people, with 500 injured.