Sri Lanka Shows the Deadly Reach of the Islamic State by Ishaan Tharoor – Washington Post
A week after enduring hideous violence on their holiest of days, Sri Lankan Christians largely stayed away from their places of worship. The archbishop of Colombo conducted a televised mass from his home on Sunday out of safety concerns for his flock — still reeling after a coordinated series of suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people in churches and hotels on both sides of the country.
The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State, and some officials floated the possibility that it was intended to be retaliation for a white supremacist’s assault on two mosques in New Zealand. The specter of an international Islamist militant plot hung over the island nation. The Islamic State’s online propaganda arm released images of the suspected ringleader of the attack, accompanied by seven scarf-clad followers, declaring allegiance to the extremist group and its leader, Abu Bakr-al-Baghdadi.
In response, Sri Lankan authorities snatched up dozens of potential suspects over the course of the week, including 48 people over the weekend, while uncovering various caches of weapons and bombmaking material…