Sri Lanka bomber who studied in Britain BOTCHED his Easter Day attack

The Easter Sunday terrorist who studied in Britain is believed to have botched his attempt to detonate his bomb at a five-star hotel in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.

Police are investigating whether Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed's backpack failed to explode after he tried to leave it at the luxury Taj Samudra hotel, where he had checked in the day before.

He is thought to have blown himself up by accident at a much smaller guest house - the Tropical Inn in the suburb of Dehiwala - two hours after the co-ordinated blasts across Sri Lanka.

Mohamed had reportedly been trying to examine his bomb’s malfunctioning mechanism. The bomb then exploded, killing him and one other person.   

He may have been forced to take the bag away from the busy Tak Samudra hotel when a staff member saw it and gave it back to him, potentially saving dozens lives in the process.      

Yesterday it emerged that Mohamed - one of nine members of an ISIS death squad that killed 359 people and injured more than 500 on Easter Sunday - is believed to have studied in the southeast of England at some point between 2006 and 2007.

He later did a postgraduate course in Australia, before returning to settle in Sri Lanka. 

Earlier the country's Deputy Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene confirmed one of the bombers studied in the UK, but did not name him or which university or college he attended.

But he did say the attackers were all middle or upper class, well educated, from financially stable families, and that many of them had higher education. 

The middle-class gang included wealthy brothers Ilham Ibrahim, 32, and Inshaf Ibrahim, 35, who caused carnage at the Shangri-La Hotel and the Cinnamon Grand as guests ate breakfast. Their multi-millionaire father once stood for parliament. 

Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed's identity was today reported by Sky News, citing security sources.

Mohamed apparently botched his own attempt to detonate a bomb at a five-star hotel in the capital Colombo and is thought to have blown himself up later at a smaller hotel when he examined his malfunctioning device. 

Police are investigating whether his backpack failed to explode after he tried to leave it at the luxury Taj Samudra hotel, where he had checked in the day before. He may have been forced to take the bag away when a staff member saw it and gave it to him.

Two hours after the co-ordinated blasts across Sri Lanka, Mohamed went to the Tropical Inn, a small hotel in the suburb of Dehiwala, where he tried to examine his bomb’s mechanism, a source said. The bomb then exploded, killing him and one other person. 

The revelation that one of the terrorists had studied in Britain sparked fears that he could have been radicalised at a university here. 

British investigators are now scrambling to retrace his steps and officers from Scotland Yard, MI5 and MI6, the FBI and other Western intelligence agencies have all flown out to Sri Lanka to investigate fears of a resurgent global terror network. 

Security expert Professor Anthony Glees has described 2006-7 as the 'heyday of Islamist activity on British campuses' - particularly in London and the Southeast. 

Professor Glees, who has written a book on the subject titled When Students Turn to Terror: Terrorist and Extremist Activity on British Campuses, says a high proportion of British Islamist terrorists both convicted or killed in the course of their attacks came from higher education backgrounds. 

He said that the disproportionately high number of Islamists who went to university points to the fact that they are interested in ideas and studying, and have middle-class aspirations. This is far more true of Britain than other European countries. 

For example, Mohammed Emwazi - or 'Jihadhi John' - a well-known ISIS executioner from London, studied at the University of Westminster in 2006. 

Earlier this month an ISIS fighter told the BBC at least seven students and ex-students from University of Westminster joined the terror group. 

Michael Adebolajo, who murdered Fusilier Lee Rigby in 2013, studied sociology at the University of Greenwich - living in student accommodation in 2004 to 2005. 

Professor Glees earlier suggested MI5 will already know the identity of the bomber with the British link. 

Intelligence agencies in the UK will now be urgently trying to establish whether any connections he made here led him to extremism, and if any other associates pose a threat here. 

Professor Glees said he would urge MI5 to look into higher education as a line of inquiry, particularly London and Southeast universities circa 2006.  

Today the Metropolitan Police refused to comment on whether they were carrying out inquiries into the background of any suspected attackers with links to the UK.

A spokesman told the Evening Standard: 'Whilst there is currently no intelligence to suggest there is any threat to the UK in relation to the attacks in Sri Lanka, we continually work closely with our security partners both here in the UK and internationally in order to keep the public safe.' 

Eight British nationals died when suicide bombers targeted churches and hotels, and the number of confirmed dead had risen to 359.  

The deputy defence minister today also revealed that there were nine suicide bombers - eight men pictured swearing allegiance to ISIS and one of their wives who blew herself up when police raided her home - and said eight have been identified.

They used two safehouses to mastermind the atrocity, he added. 

Mr Wijewardene said: 'We believe one of the suicide bombers studied in the UK and then later on did his postgraduate in Australia, before coming back to settle in Sri Lanka.'

He spoke out as came as Alaina Teplitz, America's ambassador to Sri Lanka, said America believes there are 'ongoing terrorist plots' in the country while warning of  attacks on 'large gatherings [and] public spaces'.

Mr Wickremesinghe has previously warned that suspects armed with explosives were still at large, while Mr Wijewardene told people to 'remain vigilant'.

'The investigation is still being conducted by our intelligence agencies, we have made a significant amount of arrests,' he said.

'We have gathered a considerable amount of information about who was involved in these atrocities and about extremist elements within this country.

'We will make further arrests over the coming days [and] we can firmly say that within the next couple of days we will have the situation under control.'

Mr Wijewardene said that, so far, 60 people have been arrested, all of whom are Sri Lankan nationals, 39 of whom are still in custody being questioned.

He added that all suspects have some link to the attackers - who he refused to formally identify.

Meanwhile Lakshman Kiriella, leader of Sri Lanka's parliament, accused security officials of deliberately withholding information about the attacks. 

He said information on possible suicide attacks on churches, hotels and politicians were received from Indian intelligence on April 4 ahead of a Security Council meeting chaired Sirisena on April 7, but the information was not shared more widely. 

He told ministers: 'Some top intelligence officials hid the intelligence information purposefully. 

'Information was there, but the top brass security officials did not take appropriate actions. Somebody is controlling these top intelligence officials. 

'The Security Council is doing politics. We need to investigate into this.'

It comes after reports that Indian officials warned of a specific threat against churches in the country two hours before the first bomb blast.

Ms Teplitz said that American intelligence services were not aware of any threat beforehand, but that the FBI is now on the ground providing assistance.

Teplitz also said 'clearly there was some failure in the system' for Sri Lanka prior to Easter bombings.

The President on Wednesday asked for the resignation of the country's defence secretary and chief of police over the blunders.

Security sources in India told CNN that they arrested a member of ISIS who claimed to have trained the plot mastermind, who he named as Zahran Hashim. 

Mr Wijewardene said the death toll from the attacks rose to 359 overnight, 39 of whom were foreign nationals.

Of the dead foreigners, 17 have been identified and their remains handed over to their families.

Mr Wijewardene said the group used to be part of National Thowheed Jamath, who have previously been blamed for the atrocity, but splintered off as their views became more extreme.

Wijewardene described the bombers as middle to upper class men whose families were financially stable and said many of them held degrees. 

The group were united in their belief that Islam should be the only religion in Sri Lanka, and that was what motivated their attack on Sunday.

He said that while the attack may have been in the making for some time, it is the belief of the security services that the Christchurch mosque attacks steered them towards attacking churches on Easter Sunday.

He also confirmed that the leader of the terror cell was among the dead, having blown himself up at the Shangri-La hotel. However, he refused to name the man.

The ringleader has previously been named by the country's Prime Minister as Moulvi Zahran Hashim, and extremist preacher known to security services for speeches he gave online calling for all non-Muslims to be 'eradicated'.

Mr Wijewardene also today confirmed that an explosion in Colombo earlier was a controlled blast on a motorbike near the Savoy hotel.  

Mr Glees, the director the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at Buckingham University, suggested the terrorist is likely to have studied at a London based university, and possibly could have completed studies in engineering or IT.

Mr Glees told MailOnline: 'I have no doubt whatsoever that the identity of this person will very soon uncovered. Everybody leaves a trail.

'MI5 know who this person is. They will be checking out where they studied, who they came into contact with, and crucially, who else was in their network.

'There are a stream of Islamist terrorists who come from higher education in the UK that are graduates, who are over represented in terrorist ranks.

'This gives you an indication of the sort of people they are, they are not homeless refugees, or unemployed, they are well educated, highly motivated, ideological fanatics, that are highly dangerous.

'This is a very significant development. It is very likely that this person would have been radicalised in the UK, or Australia. 

'He may have had no personal contact with the fighting in ISIS in Syria or Iraq.

'Massive warning lights have to

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