Housewife Fatima Fazla believed that her neighbors, in the luxurious, three-story house across the street, were the rich celebrities of this Colombo slum. He could not have imagined that one day they would become famous all over the world.
Two brothers who lived in the White House in the Mahavela Gardens are considered to be the main protagonists of the bombings that rocked Sri Lanka last Sunday, on the eve of Catholic Easter. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the coordinated attack on three churches and four hotels.
Insaf Ibrahim, a 33-year-old coppersmith owner, detonated the explosives he was carrying while at the luxury Shangri-La Hotel for breakfast. When police went to search the family home shortly afterwards, his younger brother, Ilham Ibrahim, detonated a bomb, killing himself, his wife and their three children, according to a source close to family, who spoke anonymously to Reuters.
"They looked like good people," Fazla said from her humble home across from Ibrahim's three-story building, which is now guarded by police.
Sri Lankan authorities have not released the identities of the bombers, but the names of the brothers have been reported by local media. Their father, Mohamed Ibrahim, has been arrested as part of the investigation. Ibrahim, a wealthy spice merchant and pillar of the island's business community, had six sons and three daughters - and was greatly admired by those who knew him.
"He was famous in the area because he helped the poor, gave food and money. It is inconceivable that his children did such a thing. "Because of what they did, all Muslims are treated as suspects," the neighbor commented.
Ilham Ibrahim, 31, had openly expressed his extremist ideology and had attended meetings of the local Islamist organization National Thowheed Jamath, according to an anonymous source quoted by Reuters. His businessman brother was much more modest. He was also known to be very generous: he gave gifts to his employees and to households that were having a hard time making ends meet. Insaf had married the daughter of a wealthy goldsmith and had no financial problems.
"I was shocked. "It never crossed our minds that they were such people," said Sanjiva Jayasinghe, 38, a network technician working in the building next door.
Source: ΑΠΕ / ΜΠΕ