In a shocking revelation Thursday, two sisters of Sri Lanka suicide bombers have described their brothers as too crazy and withdrawn in the months leading up to the bombings.
The two sisters claim that the brothers had been cordial and close to them in the past, but they had totally changed.
“He told male relatives off for trimming their beards and became angry and totally crazy,” Samsul Hidaya, who identified herself as the sister of suspected bomber Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, told an International publication. “So I just stopped speaking to him because it got to the point where it was getting out of hand.”
Confirming media reports about the education of one of the suicide bombers, Hidaya noted that in deed one of his brothers had studied in the UK before moving to Australia.
However, she says that his behaviour suddenly changed after making a return from his studies.
He became more extreme, irritable and argumentative.
“I had many arguments with him,” she said. “At first he started quoting scripture and I would say ‘OK, you’re right.”
But then the conversation got deeper and deeper into religion and I couldn’t follow what he was saying any longer,” she narrated.
Mastermind
Madaniya, a sister to one of the masterminds of the terror attacks, Zahran Hashim, also spoke to the BBC, talking about her brother’ changed behaviour.
“We had a very good relationship during our childhood. He was very friendly with everyone in the neighbourhood,” Madaniya told the BBC. “But for the last two years, he has not been in contact with us.”
A shocked Madaniya says she learnt of her brother’s involvement in the attacks through the media.
“I never thought, even for a moment, that he would do such a thing,” she said. “I strongly deplore what he has done. Even if he is my brother, I cannot accept this. I don’t care about him anymore.”