The story of suicide bomber brothers
By Jake Wallis Simons and Miranda Aldersley: New CCTV footage shows one of the Sri Lanka bomber brothers nervously shuffling back and forth before deciding to blow himself up at the Cinnamon Grand hotel. Wealthy brothers Inshaf and Ilham Ibrahim walked into the luxury Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels and detonated their vests as guests were eating breakfast on Easter Sunday.
The newly-released footage from a camera in the Cinnamon Grand’s packed Taprobane restaurant shows Inshaf hovering just inches away from diners.A man believed to be Inshaf Ibrahim (pictured in baseball cap with rucksack) was captured on CCTV appearing to hestitate before blowing himself up in the restaurant of the Cinnamon Grand hotel in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.
Wearing a light shirt, dark baseball cap and a large backpack, the attacker hesitates – shuffling from foot to foot before detonating his suicide vest at 9.12am. Inshaf had reportedly checked into the hotel the previous night using a fake name and claiming to be on a business trip.
It comes as CCTV footage previously revealed the moment his brother Ilham and an accomplice took a lift to the restaurant of the five-star Shangri-La hotel before blowing themselves up. Wearing backpacks, the two men appear to discuss their plans in the elevator on the second floor in the final moments before the Easter Sunday massacre.
Inshaf (pictured far right at a business awards), 38, lived with his wife and their four children – an eight-year-old daughter and three boys aged six, four and two – in a £1.5million six-bed mansion on one of the most exclusive streets in Colombo.
The bombers then enter the Table One eatery almost unnoticed while hotel guests are having breakfast before he detonates his deadly weapon. In a split second the plush restaurant becomes a scene of horror as the bomb explodes in a cloud of smoke and bright red flame.
Another bomb tore through a restaurant at the nearby Kingsbury hotel while similar explosions devastated three churches. Hours later, as police raided their mansion in an exclusive neighbourhood of Colombo, Ilham’s pregnant wife Fatima blew herself up, killing her three children and three officers.
Their attacks have so far claimed the lives of 359 people, including at least 41 foreigners. Eight were British holidaymakers, and of these three were children. Authorities investigating the attack have described the heavy backpacks worn by the suicide bombers as ‘crude devices made locally’.
Among the victims at the Shangri-La were British lawyer Ben Nicholson’s wife Anita, 42, son Alex, 14, and daughter Annabel, 11. Danish retail billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen lost three of his four children in the atrocity. The wealthy brothers – sons of a millionaire spice trader – are two of nine jihadis who carried out the devastating bomb attacks in Sri Lanka. They are believed to be pictured here alongside National Thowfeek Jamaath leader Moulvi Zahran Hashim.
The wealthy brothers – sons of a millionaire spice trader – are two of nine jihadis who carried out the devastating bomb attacks in Sri Lanka. They are believed to be pictured here alongside National Thowfeek Jamaath leader Moulvi Zahran Hashim Ilham, whose wife Fatima blew herself up when police raided their mansion in an exclusive part of Colombo, is pictured alongside an accomplice bomber entering the second-floor restaurant at the Shangri-La hotel before the deadly attack;
The attacker can be seen wearing a large backpack as he reaches out to touch the little girl, who is believed to be Dilip Fernando’s granddaughter. He said yesterday: ‘At the end of the mass [my family] saw one young man go into the church in with a heavy bag. He touched my granddaughter’s head on the way past. It was the bomber’ This clip, taken from inside St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, shows the suspected suicide bombing walking inside, moments before he detonated a device killing dozens of worshippers;
ISIS have now claimed responsibility for the Sri Lankan terror attack, but Sri Lankan officials have blamed two local Islamist groups.The terrorist can be seen sauntering towards St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo while wearing a large backpack containing a ‘crude device made locally’ that was used to massacre Christian worshippers.
It is believed the clip shows the attacker touching the granddaughter of Dilip Fernando, who said: ‘At the end of the mass [my family] saw one young man go into the church in with a heavy bag. He touched my granddaughter’s head on the way past. It was the bomber.’
The Ibrahim brothers were at the centre of the little-known but highly organised Islamic State terror cell which detonated six bombs in hotels and churches across Sri Lanka.But while the profile of suicide bombers tends to be of poverty-stricken men with criminal backgrounds, the brothers were the sons of millionaire spice trader Yoonus Ibrahim and were privately educated in Colombo.
The pair, who had six other brothers and three sisters, were widely considered to be moderate Muslims who did not hold extreme views.Their pictures, taken from a UN database, were identified by a senior police source as well as their brother-in-law, Ashkhan Alawdeen, several neighbours and staff at Inshaf’s copper factory.
Ilham, 36, Fatima and their children lived with his parents and other relatives. Ilham is thought to have blown up the Shangri-La Hotel, killing British lawyer Ben Nicholson’s wife Anita, 42, son Alex, 14, and daughter Annabel, 11.Neighbour Zulker Nain, 28, said: ‘We have known the family for decades and have grown up with them. The parents were leaders in the community and much respected.’This is a very nice residential area – one of the best places to live in Sri Lanka, not just in Colombo.’
