The Sri Lanka Army yesterday said they are closely monitoring the situation of Sri Lankan Muslim nationals joining up with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in strife-torn Syria.
Asked how many Sri Lankan nationals had left for Syria to join the ISIS, military spokesman Brigadier Jayweera said, "we had yet to confirm a dozen others who are having,
and likely to have relationships with them (IS) in Sri Lanka."
"Since we have prioritized our monitoring into IS sympathizers in Sri Lanka, we cannot reveal information about them just yet," he said. On being pointed out that Defense Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi had apparently revealed to the media that three dozen Sri Lankan nationals had gone to Syria to join the ISIS, Brigadier Jayaweera said, "we heard so." Defense Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi had reportedly told the BBC Sandeshaya programme that 36 Sri Lankans, among them women and children had gone to Syria and joined the ISIS under the guise of going on pilgrimage to that country with their families. According to reports, some of them have joined the Islamic State terrorist group. "The Defense Ministry is yet to determine how they left for Syria and with whose help," sources said.
Sri Lankan Muslim national named Mohamed Muhsin Sharhaz Nilam (37), who was said to have been a resident of Kurunegala, who was known in the ISIS as Abu Shuraih Sailania, was killed in an air strike in Syria while fighting for the IS.
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