Sri Lanka, April 23 -- The office of New Zealand's prime minister says she is aware of comments linking Sri Lanka's Easter bombings to the mosque attacks in Christchurch, though it hasn't "seen any intelligence upon which such an assessment might be based."

The statement came Tuesday after Sri Lanka's minister of defense, Ruwan Wijewardene, made the claim to Parliament, without offering evidence.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's office also added that it understood "the Sri Lankan investigation into the attack is in its early stages."

The Christchurch shootings killed 50 people in March.

The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility for the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka that killed at least 321 people, but offered no evi...