WARNING:Disturbing images at the end of news content

Trauma, uncertainty escalates following shootout, explosions in East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 April 2019, 15:30 GMT]
It was the Muslim house-owners in Kalmunai, Chaayntha-maruthu and other places in Ampaa'rai, who cooperated with the security establishment to detect the residences of the renters behaving suspiciously or absconding on Friday. At least six suicide bombers have reportedly blown themselves up during the cordon and search operations reported from Friday to Saturday morning. At the same time, the news of three innocent children getting killed in gunfire while no military or police getting harmed and the subsequent reports claiming that it was the terror suspects who shot the children, have raised suspicion among the people, said Moulavi AJM Ilyas, a leading Islamic religious leader in Batticaloa. Moulavi Ilyas reiterated that the entire Muslim community in the island stood united in condemning the terror attacks on Easter Sunday.

“We are in shock. Our hearts are broken. We are ashamed of the terrorist acts by the suicide killers who have claimed the lives of others while making claims in the name of Islam, which is opposed to even the idea of suicide itself,” the Islamic leader from the East said.

The people are caught in trauma. They are afraid to move out in the streets.

The Moulavi from Meeraavoadai in Batticaloa, who interacts with all other communities, said he was also confined mostly to the mosque and his residence. Fear has engulfed everyone so much that they are afraid to do anything. The chain of unfolding events since the Easter Sunday attacks has further escalated the collective trauma, Ilyas said.





The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), which is the coordinating body of the Islamic leadership in the island, has decided not to give space for Islamic rituals (Salat al-Janazah) nor it would allow the burial of the remains of the attackers in the Islamic grounds.

The ACJU has also urged Muslim women not to wear the burqa in the coming days for security reasons.

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Warning: strong photos

Photos from Ampaa'rai follow:



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