The Sri Lankan government believes a local Islamist extremist group called the National

Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) was behind the deadly suicide bomb attacks, government spokesman

Rajitha Senaratne said. According to Bloomberg, Hilmy Ahamed, vice president of the Muslim

Council of Sri Lanka, had warned military intelligence officials about the group and its leaders

about three years ago. Blast results in killing at least 290 people and leaving 500 others

wounded, police said.

A government forensic crime analyst told The Associated Press that the six near-simultaneous

attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels in and around Colombo on Easter Sunday were

carried out by seven suicide bombers.

Authorities have not made public details on those held after Sunday's attacks, but a police source told

AFP the 13 were detained at two locations in and around Colombo. The source said the 13 men are from

the same group. At least 13 suspects were arrested on Monday in connection with Easter Sunday

bombings in Sri Lanka that targeted churches and hotels. An analysis of the attackers' body parts made

clear that they were suicide bombers, said Ariyananda Welianga, a forensic crime investigator. He said

most attacks were by one bomber, with two at Colombo's Shangri-La Hotel.