Several dead and injured in serial blasts at a gathering at Ernakulam

Kerala was rocked on Sunday morning as a series of explosions claimed the life of a woman and injured 36 people during a prayer meeting organised by Jehovah’s Witnesses at Kalamassery, an Ernakulam suburb.

The convention hall that could accommodate 2,500 people were filled to capacity as explosives went off leading the people to run helter-skelter to save themselves from the fire caused by the explosions.

Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau are probing the incident even as Governor Arif Mohammed Khan expressed shock over the incident. Union Home Minister Amit Shah held discussions with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan about the explosions.

Later, the Chief Minister called for an all-party meet which would be held on Monday at the capital city.

The bomb blast on Sunday morning at the congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses took a curious turn by evening as Dominic Martin, a member of the sect claimed that it was he who perpetrated the bomb blast.

“I do have serious differences with the leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses as it is an anti-national organisation working against the country. I have been warning the leadership for the last so many years and it all fell on deaf ears. That’s why I chose to strike like this,” Martin said in a video message posted on Facebook which disappeared from public domain within minutes.

He surrendered to the police at Kodakara, some 70 km from the blast site and the cops are interrogating him.

But a senior IB official told The Pioneer that Martin’s confession is a cock and bull story. “It is impossible to cause a bomb attack like this without any help from others. The improvised explosive device and the tiffin box bomb are all new to Kerala. This seems to be an attempt to derail and subvert the investigation,” said the official who has probed many bomb explosion related cases in the past.

The three-day prayer meeting was to conclude on Sunday and it had drawn people from all over the district.

The Kerala Government has declared a State wide  alert following the incident and all Superintendents of police have been asked to beef up security.

Kalamassery is a stronghold of Islamic extremists belonging to the banned Popular Front of India, SDPI and PDP led by Abdul Nazar Madani who is the prime accused in many bomb blasts reported in various parts of the State.

It was at Kalamassery that a Tamil Nadu State Road Transport Corporation bus was set ablaze in 2005 demanding the release of Madani.

Chief Minister Vijayan, who was on a sojourn at the national Capital, told the media that a probe was on to find out the details of the explosion.

P Rajeeve, the Kerala Minister for Industries and the CPI-M’s chief ideologue who too was in New Delhi to chalk out a strategy for the ouster of Narendra Modi Government, has rushed to Kalamassery to take stock of the situation.

“All we know is that an explosion has taken place and one person has died. The injured have been admitted to Kalamassery Medical College,” said Rajeeve before emplaning for Kochi. “Since the beginning of the Hamas attack on Israel, Kerala has seen communal polarisation of the worst kind and an incident like this was waiting to happen,” Professor Stanly Sebastian, an educationist, told The Pioneer.

He said the Kerala Police would not be able to undertake a free investigation into the explosion.

“The probe should be handed over to Central agencies like the National Investigation Agency and the Centre should promulgate Armed Forces Special Power Act in Kerala. The Congress and the CPI-M are vying with one another in encouraging the Islamist organisations against Hindus and Christians. The Jehovah’s Witness is a faction owing allegiance to the Jewish community,” said Professor Sebastian.

Last Friday saw Khaled Mashal, founder of Hamas, virtually addressing a meeting “Uproot Hindutva and Zionism” held at Malappuram by Jamaat-e-Islami to express solidarity with Hamas.

Mashal had delivered a provocative speech in which he had asked for liquidating the friends and allies of Zionists.

The attack came immediately after his address to the Islamists and their friends in Kerala. The CPI-M led Kerala Government has come under attack from the BJP for giving permission to Mashal to address the gatherings.

Security experts, including former director general of police Dr Jacob Thomas, had warned of this kind of attacks in the State.

By  evening it was announced by the  police that the explosion was caused by a tiffin box bomb and remnants of improvised explosive devices were  recovered from the Convention Hall.

Jacob, a local chieftain of Jehovah’s Witnesses, said he and his family members had a narrow escape from the bomb blast. “My wife and daughter were injured in the blast and they have been admitted to a  private hospital,” said Jacob.

He said there was no reason for anybody to attack the congregation as the members of the sect were leading a silent and peaceful life with prayers.

“Our hope is that Jesus Christ would come back to establish the Kingdom of God and till then we have been asked to wait,” he said and declined to reveal more.

At the time of going to Press, there are strong reports that the State Government is likely to entrust the probe to the Central agencies.