Disturbing footage has emerged of one of the Sri Lankan terrorists in an elevator with a family just ahead of when he tried to detonate his device.
Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, who has family links to New Zealand, is seen in the CCTV video entering into a Taj Samudra hotel lift where he stands next to a young boy and girl and their mother.
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With a bag filled with explosives on his back, Mohamed stares down at his phone until the elevator doors open and he follows the family out.
He then makes his way to hotel's breakfast buffet, which is believed to be where he was meant to detonate his bomb.
Mohamed fiddles with the bag before getting up and later leaving the dining room.
He did later detonate the device at a motel, killing a couple, but is the only one of the suicide bombers to fail to hit his intended target.
Approximately 250 people died at the hands of multiple suicide bombers on Easter Sunday across Sri Lanka.
Mohamed's sister Samsul Hidaya told the Daily Mail the family had links to both Australia and New Zealand.
Mohamed himself did postgraduate study in Australia where, she says, he became radicalised. His first child was also born in Australia.
Meanwhile, his younger sister married a Sri Lankan New Zealander and emigrated to Auckland with their mother. It's not known whether they still reside in New Zealand.
Newshub.
