290 people were killed in the attack

The Sri Lankan police sleuthed out on Sunday a camp where Islamist militants with links to the horrific Easter bombing supposedly trained bombmaking and shooting. The camp is a large one, spread over an area of 10-acres. The land is within the administrative limits of Kattankudy, a town in the eastern part of Sri Lanka. The area in question was fully walled and located in a residential area where economically disadvantaged people live. Kattankudy is also the home town of Zahran Hashim, a key operative and plotter of the attack of April 21. The attack resulted in the deaths of 290 people. The terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) has claimed all responsibility for the hotel and the church bombings.

The Kattankudy compound can only be described as an ordinary site. The ground is sandy, and the largely narrow plot is sprinkled with a four-story watchtower made of cinderblock. Other noticeable things in the compound were mango trees and a chicken coop. There was also a goat shed. According to a Sri Lankan senior police officer, the terrorists in the compound wanted the outside world to know that nothing abnormal was going on. To any casual observer, the training ground for terrorism appears like one of the hundreds of farms which dot the local landscape.

The police have no doubt that terrorists used the land for training purposes. Law enforcement discovered bullet holes. The bullets were fired for target practice, and they were found embedded inside walls. The plot owners were arrested.

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