Sri Lankan authorities have blamed a local extremist group, National Towheed Jamaar — whose leader, alternately known as Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi — became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary speeches online.

US Ambassador Alaina Teplitz, meanwhile, told reporters that “clearly there was some failure in the system.” Sri Lanka’s leaders have said some of the country’s security units were aware before Easter of possible attacks, but did not share those warnings widely.

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