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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Jacob Jarvis

Sri Lanka bomb attack: Bomber seen riding lift with family before failed explosion attempt

Disturbing footage shows a suicide bomber riding in a lift alongside a family in Sri Lanka ahead of a failed first attempt to set off a fatal explosion.

The man, reportedly Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, strolls into the lift beside a woman who his with a young boy and girl.

He casually types on his mobile phone with a suitcase in his hand and a bag, filled with explosives, on his back.

After travelling in the lift, in the Taj Samudra hotel, he is seen exiting and went into the establishment’s dining room.

This is believed the have been his first target, though his explosives did not detonate.

He was seen fiddling with the bag ahead of exiting and going to a nearby guesthouse, where he conducted a fatal suicide bomb attack.

The new CCTV came after footage emerged of the bomber, thought to have studied at a London university, casually walking into a Sri Lankan hostel moments before blowing himself up.

Sri Lanka CCTV video of alleged suicide bomber

CCTV shows a man wearing light clothes and strolling into the Tropical Inn guest house in Dehiwala.

Cars pass by as the man heads in towards the tourist spot, before a blast was set off killing two people.

Mohamed is believed to have studied in England between 2006 and 2007 before later completing a postgraduate course in Australia.

His sister, Samsul Hidaya, said he was radicalised after leaving Britain.

She told MailOnline: "My brother became deeply, deeply religious while he was in Australia... he came back to Sri Lanka a different man.

"He had a long beard and had lost his sense of humour."

Eight Britons were among at least 359 people killed by a series of coordinated blasts on Easter Sunday.

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