National Thowheeth Jama'ath
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National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ; جماعة التوحيد الوطنية; Jamā‘at at-Tawḥīd al-Waṭanīyah, "National Monotheism Organization") is a Sri Lankan jihadist group implicated in the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. It is believed to have ties with The Islamic State.
The group promotes "Islamist terrorist ideology". The director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism said that it "aims to spread the global jihadist movement to Sri Lanka and to create hatred, fear and divisions in society."
History edit
NTJ is believed to have separated from the Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath (SLTJ), also a hardline Islamist organization, in or around 2016. The NTJ's leadership had been condemned by several Sri Lankan Muslim organizations in 2016 for advocating extreme fundamentalist indoctrination of children, and for clashes with Buddhist monks. One of the leaders, Abdul Razik, was arrested for inciting racism.
In 2018, NTJ was linked to vandalism of Buddhist statues following anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka in 2018.
Moulvi Zahran Hashim, a radical Islamist imam believed to be the mastermind behind the Sri Lanka bombings, preached on a pro-ISIL Facebook account, known as "Al-Ghuraba" media, and on YouTube.