16 people were killed in Sri Lanka after police raided a house suspected of harboring terrorists

Sri Lanka police.
(Image credit: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

Days after a series of bombings killed more than 200 people in Sri Lanka on Sunday, 16 more people died in the country after police raided a house, which was reportedly harboring suspected terrorists, in the town of Sainthamaruthu on Friday.

During the raid, gunmen fired on police and three men reportedly set off explosives in the house, killing six children and three women. Another woman was reportedly killed in the crossfire as she passed the house on a rickshaw. Six suspected terrorists were also killed.

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National Tawheed Jamath is being blamed for the Easter Sunday attacks, but has not claimed responsibility. The Islamic State, however, has done so. While several analysts suspect that, at the very least, National Tawheed Jamath took inspiration from ISIS in carrying out the bombings, no link between the two groups has been proven.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.