Sri Lanka blasts: No record to show bombers visited Kashmir, say officials

There is no record to suggest that any of the suicide bombers who carried out the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka had visited Kashmir as claimed by the Army chief of the island nation, officials of central security agencies said on Saturday.

One of the officials said immigration records were re-visited after the terrorist attacks and none of the bombers had visited Kashmir.

About a dozen Sri Lankan nationals had come to Kashmir Valley this year and their credentials have been re-checked after the April 21 bombings in three churches and three luxury hotels killed 253 people and injured over 500 others, he said.

However, there could be a possibility of the bombers visiting the state using pseudonym, the official said, adding if Sri Lanka hands over some evidence, it can be verified from the ground.

Sri Lanka Army's chief has said that some of the suicide bombers, who carried out the country's worst terror attack, visited Kashmir and Kerala for "some sorts of training" or to "make some more links" with other foreign outfits.

In an interview to BBC, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, Commander of the Army, said, "They (the suspects) have gone to India, they've gone to Kashmir, Bangalore, they've travelled to Kerala state. Those are the information available with us."

It is the first time that a top Sri Lankan security official has confirmed the militants' visit to India which had shared intelligence inputs with Colombo ahead of the attack.

Nine suicide bombers, including a woman, carried out the series of blasts.