Lanka bomb suspect's sister fears 18 relatives feared dead since Easter attacks

The sister of the suspected ringleader of Sri Lanka's Easter Sunday bombings has claimed that up to 18 members of her family are missing and feared dead since the massive suicide attacks and subsequent police raids, according to a media report.

More than 250 people were killed and at least 500 injured in a series of coordinated suicide bombings at churches and hotels by the little-known National Tawheed Jamath (NTJ) across the island April 21.

Mohamed Hashim Mathaniya is the sister of Mohamed Zahran Hashim, the man Sri Lankan authorities believe was one of the leaders of the attacks, the country's worst.

He appeared in a video released by an ISIS-linked news agency before blowing himself up on Easter Sunday.

Speaking to CNN, Mathaniya said she identified her brother from photographs of his body parts at the police station earlier in the week.

"Five men went missing after the attacks (on Sunday). They were my three brothers, my father, and my sister's husband," she said.

On Friday night, 10 civilians -- including six children -- were killed along with six suspected terrorists after a shootout between police and alleged militants in the town of Sainthamaruthu on Sri Lanka's Eastern province.

One of the militants killed in that raid has been identified as Mohamed Niyas, a prominent member of the local extremist group NTJ and Mathaniya's brother-in-law.

"It did not hit me until I saw the bodies of the men and women. When they said six children, I thought whether they could be the people related to me," Mathaniya said.

"Among the women, there were five women there in the house. The wives of my three brothers, my younger sister, and my mother. There were altogether seven children."
Witnesses said one explosion during the raid turned the Sainthamaruthu house "into fire."
The video, widely circulated on Sri Lankan social media, shows three men saying in Tamil that they will "teach a lesson" to those who "are destroying Muslims who have come to this part of the country."