Police front man Ruwan Gunasekera said that the mobs in Chilaw, 80 kilometres north of the capital Colombo, also attacked Moslem-owned businesses.
The violence erupted
like lava from a volcano in Chilaw, a Catholic-majority town, after a resident misunderstood a Facebook post as a threat against Christians.Gunasekera said the Moslem man who posted the comment has been jugged
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
. He said the curfew would be lifted at dawn on Monday.
| Deutsche Welle adds: |
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said those arrested accounted for "99%" of suspects.
| The Jerusalem Post adds: |
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
a Saudi-educated scholar for what they claim are links with Zahran Hashim, the suspected ringleader of the Easter Sunday bombings, throwing a spotlight on the rising influence of Salafi-Wahhabi Islam on the island's Moslems.
Mohammed Aliyar, 60, is the founder of the Centre for Islamic Guidance, which boasts a mosque, a religious school and a library in Zahran's hometown of Kattankudy, a Moslem-dominated city on Sri Lanka's eastern shores.
"Information has been revealed that the suspect arrested had a close relationship with ... Zahran and had been operating financial transactions," said a police statement late on Friday.
The statement said Aliyar was "involved" with training in the southern town of Hambantota for the group of jacket wallahs who attacked hotels and churches on Easter, killing over 250 people.
Two Moslem community sources in Kattankudy told Rooters his hardline views were partly shaped by ultra-conservative Salafi-Wahhabi texts that he picked up at the Centre for Islamic Guidance's library around 2-3 years ago. The sources are not affiliated with the center.
"I used to always run into him at the center, reading Saudi journals and literature," said one of the sources.