ISIS used Sri Lanka as a ‘test run’ for fresh campaign of massive terror attacks on Western holiday hotspots, experts warn
BRITISH spooks fear more Sri Lanka type atrocities as ISIS are thought to be focussing their attacks on tourist destinations.
MI5 fear the death cult is bent on carrying a fresh new wave of carnage in Britain and Europe by using “crocodile cells” made up of sleeper jihadis who could be activated to carry out a spectacular bloodbath.
It comes as ISIS terror chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared in a video for the first time in almost five years in a new video released to prove he’s still alive and to justify the the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka.
Charlie Winter, of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London, told The Times: “Now that ISIS has been defeated in Syria and Iraq, it will become more violent outside this area.
“It’s a grim outlook, but we are likely to see more attempts at attacks, more regularly, for the foreseeable future.
“Sri Lanka was not a one-off. If anything, it was a test run.”
‘SRI LANKA KILLER MENTORED BY BRIT MANIACS’
It comes amid the disclosure that a ringleader of Sri Lanka’s Easter massacre was “mentored” by a group of British terrorists in Syria.
It is believed in western intelligence circles that Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, who studied in the UK, was lured by Britons to ISIS”caliphate” for terror training.
The Times reports that he may have been sent back to Sri Lanka to plot last Sunday’s suicide attacks on churches and tourists hotels, which killed 253, including eight UK nationals.
His teachers included the ISIS executioner known as Jihadi John.
MOST READ IN NEWS
Meanwhile suspected terrorists were in custody in Paris last night accused of planning an “extremely violent” attack against France’s security services and “national institutions“.
One is a teenager who had already been sent to prison for three years for travelling to Syria to join Islamic State. The male suspects – who have not been named – were arrested last Friday, during a period of heightened security across the country.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.