(Image source from: Jammulinks.news)

15 Killed, Including 6 Children, in Raids on Islamic State Hideouts in Sri Lanka:- During a fierce overnight gun battle on the east of Sri Lanka, the bodies of 15 people, including six children were recovered at the site, a military spokesman said on Saturday.

The bodies were found six days after suicide bombers killed over 250 people on Easter Sunday.  

The shootout between suspected Islamist militants and troops broke out on Friday evening in Sainthamaruthu in Ampara, to the south of the town of Batticaloa, site of one of the Easter Sunday blasts at four luxury hotels and three churches.

Three suspected suicide bombers were among the 15 dead after the shoot out, a police spokesman said.

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.

He said the militants were suspected members of the National Towheed Jama’at (NTJ), which has been blamed for last Sunday’s attacks.

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 having links with Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings.

At least 76 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, were detained in police investigations up to now.

Islamic State till yet didn’t provide grounds to back its claim that it was behind the attacks. If true, it would be one of the worst attacks carried out by the Islamic States group outside Syria and Iraq.

A video released on Tuesday by the extremist group showed eight men, all but one with their faces covered, standing under a black Islamic State flag and declaring their loyalty to its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

By Sowmya