ALL state police chiefs in Malaysia have been instructed to increase security at places of worship in the wake of the Sri Lanka bombings that have claimed more than 320 lives.

The instruction came from the Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun, who also ordered increased security outside the Sri Lanka High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

“We have taken proactive measures. I have instructed all states police chief to increase security measures,” Fuzi told reporters at the police training centre in Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur today.

“We are on alert and we have also increased security at the Sri Lanka High Commission.”

The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the coordinated bomb attacks in churches and hotels in Sri Lanka. The authorities there put the latest death toll at 321 with more than 500 injured.

Malaysia also has detained scores of IS sympathisers under preventive security laws and are now keeping watch over developments in Sri Lanka.

Fuzi said, to date, there has been no word of Malaysian IS sympathisers involved in the attacks in Sri Lanka.

“There is no link to Malaysians, so far. However, we are working closely with our counterparts in gathering intelligence.”

Experts said this was the deadliest overseas operation claimed by IS since it proclaimed its “caliphate” almost five years ago.

The claim by IS, accompanied by a photo and video of the men the group said had unleashed the carnage, emerged more than two days after the near-simultaneous blasts ripped through three high-end hotels popular with foreigners and three churches packed with Christians celebrating Easter.

Reports have also suggested that the attacks in Sri Lanka were in retaliation for the mass shootings in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, last month which claimed 50 lives. A 17-year-old Malaysian was among the dead while three others were injured.

In the Christchurch incident, an Australian was arrested by New Zealand police about 30 minutes after a shooting spree.

Authorities in Colombo had already pointed the finger at a little-known local Islamic extremist group called National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), but said they were investigating whether they had international support.

Sri Lankan police sources told AFP that two Muslim brothers, sons of a wealthy Colombo spice trader, blew themselves up at the Shangri-La and the Cinnamon Grand hotels.

Police have detained at least 40 people as they investigate the worst act of violence in the South Asian island nation since a civil war ended a decade ago.

But Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said police were hunting for more suspects at large, including some armed with explosives, and that further attacks were possible.

Wickremesinghe also revealed there had been a failed attack against a fourth major hotel, and that the Indian high commission was also a possible target.

Sri Lankan authorities are facing further pressure following reports that they had received repeated warnings about the possible terror attacks but did not act on them. – April 24, 2019