A police officer stand guards at a site of a gun battle between troops and suspected Islamist militants as neighbors gather to watch in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Police in Ampara showed The Associated Press on Sunday the explosives, chemicals and Islamic State flag they recovered from the site of one security force raid in the region as Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated at televised Mass in the safety of their homes.
The scale of the explosives seized following Friday night’s violence, as well as the continued warning of authorities that more militants remain on the loose, only add to the dread. Violence here in Kalmunai, some 225 kilometers northeast of the capital, Colombo, shattered nearly 10 years of peace on Friday night. One neighbor, Ahamed Mohammed Rizwan, told The Associated Press that leaders at his mosque asked him and two others to go the militants’ house and check on them as he knew the people living there.
AP journalists walking through the neighborhood Sunday found evidence of the firefight. Spent 7.62 mm cartridges littered the ground, likely from the assault rifle one of the militants carried. Down the street, bullet holes punctured the cement block walls of neighbors’ homes. Soldiers waited until sunrise Saturday before entering the home, ending the violence that killed 15 people. Amid the blood-stained walls and shattered glass, they found a young girl, as well as a woman. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara later identified them as the wife and 4-year-old daughter of Mohammed Zahran, the alleged mastermind behind the Easter Sunday bombings of three churches and three hotels that killed over 250 people.
Sad to hear this news
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