At least 15 people died during a raid on a house in eastern Sri Lanka where suicide bombers blew themselves up and at least one man was killed in a gun battle with security forces.
The operation followed a tip off that extremists linked to the Easter suicide bombings were holed up in Kalmunai, a predominantly Muslim town around 215 km (135 miles) east of the capital Colombo.
Three men set off explosives that killed themselves, three women and six children inside the house on Friday night, police said on Saturday, April 27.
A police spokesman said that three suspected suicide bombers were among the 15 dead after the shootout.
One child caught in the crossfire was admitted to hospital.
Military spokesman Sumith Atapattu said in a statement that as troops headed towards the safe house three explosions were triggered and gunfire began.
"Troops retaliated and raided the safe house where a large cache of explosives had been stored," he said in a statement.
Soldiers stand guard in a neighbourhood after they raid what believed to be a safe house for a militant group in the eastern town of Kalmunai on Apr 27, 2019. (Photo: AFP)
He said the militants were suspected members of the National Towheed Jama'at (NTJ), which has been blamed for last Sunday's attacks.
Bomb-making materials, dozens of gelignite sticks and thousands of ball bearings were found in a search of a separate house in the same area along with Islamic State banners and uniforms, the military said.
The government has said nine homegrown, well-educated suicide bombers carried out the Easter Sunday attacks, eight of whom had been identified. One was a woman.
Police said on Friday they were trying to track down 140 people they believe have links with Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings.
Sri Lanka's president has also said some Sri Lankan youths had been involved with the Islamic State since 2013 and that there were drug trafficking links.
"Our efforts to eradicate the drugs menace from the country could have advanced the ISIS attack," Sirisena said.
Police have detained at least 76 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, in their investigations so far. Twenty were arrested in the past 24 hours alone, they said.
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