The massive casualty toll would make the Easter Sunday attacks the deadliest overseas operation claimed by IS since the group proclaimed its caliphate in mid-2014.The video shows the suspect wearing a backpack, walking towards the church with people walking around him. A man and a girl holding hands were seen crossing paths with the alleged suspect who pauses to pat the girl before he continues to walk towards the church.An eyewitness, Dilip Fernando, who left the St Sebastian's church right before the blast, claimed to have seen the young man carrying a heavy bag, enter the church at the end of the mass. 'He touched my granddaughter's head on the way past. It was the bomber,' he was quoted by news agency AFP as saying.The family wondered why he was entering the church with mass nearly over, Fernando said, adding that the man had looked to be around 30 and 'very young and innocent', according to his relatives.'
By Shihar Aneez, Ranga Sirilal. COLOMBO (Reuters) – Several dozen people threw stones at mosques and Muslim-owned stores and a local man was beaten in the town of Chilaw on Sri Lanka’s west coast on Sunday in a dispute that started on Facebook, sources told Reuters. Three weeks ago in Sri Lanka Islamist bombers blew themselves up in four hotels and three churches, killing more than 250 people.
He was not excited or afraid. He was so calm,' he told AFP.
Shortly after the man entered the church, there was a massive blast.. Colombo: CCTV footage of suspected suicide bomber (carrying a backpack) walking into St Sebastian church on Easter Sunday. (Video courtesy- Siyatha TV) — ANI (@ANI)In the CCTV footage, the man is seen entering from the front door of the church through the dozens of people seen offering prayers. He is dressed in a light-blue shirt and black pants.' Those that carried out the attack that targeted members of the US-led coalition and Christians in Sri Lanka the day before yesterday are Islamic State group fighters,' IS propaganda agency Amaq said in a statement. In a later statement, the group gave the noms de guerre of seven people it said were behind the 'blessed attack' that targeted Christians during their 'blasphemous holiday'.Amaq also released a photo of eight men it said were behind the blasts. Seven of them had their faces covered and three of them held knives.