DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A spate of attacks against mosques, shrines and followers of Sufi sheikhs in Sri Lanka more than a decade ago point to early warning signs of fundamentalism taking root among a sliver of the country's Muslims.

The Easter attacks in Sri Lanka that killed more than 350 people in churches and hotels showed how the warnings went largely unheeded. It also exposed how a legacy of civil war, marginalization, political disarray and security lapses cultivated fertile ground for the militants to carry out their attacks.

The Islamic State group, which has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, claims it was behind the bombings. Sri Lankan authorities remain unsure of its involvement, and have blamed breakaway members of two obscure local Muslim extremist groups.