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Islamic State has not claimed attacks in Sri Lanka. Yet, for years, IS has considered Christians priority targets in the group's global terrorism campaign. After the 2017 Palm Sunday attacks in Egypt, targeting Christians and destroying churches was covered in IS's Rumiyah ezine. 
Much of Islamic State's propaganda legitimizing violence against Christians leverages guidance by the 13th-14th Century Damascus-based mufti Ibn Taymiyyah. He identified the Shia and Christians as key accomplices of the invading Mongols who refused to enforce sharia exclusively.
In a manifestos published in 2008, al-Qa'ida's current leader also notes that Ibn Taymiyyah called for Christians to be targeted in the jihad the mufti called for against the Mongols, despite the fact Christians did not fight alongside the Mongols as they invaded the Middle East.
Many historians, political scientists, and terrorism studies scholars have noted Ibn Taymiyyah's three anti-Mongol fatawa are key sources of inspiration for sectarian tensions in the Middle East and proximate regions. Less attention has been given to his focus on Christians.
It is also useful to consider that Ibn Taymiyyah's works are generally recognized as among the corpus of authoritative ancient texts which informed the agenda of the founder of the Wahhabi school, thus the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's religiopolitical doctrine.
As @dbyman put it, Ibn Taymiyyah's works "form the core of the modern jihadist ideology." This can make it difficult for many Salafis to argue against several basic arguments Salafi-Jihadist groups like Islamic State and al-Qa'ida have made to legitimize their terrorism campaigns
