Kerala blasts: Man arrested after deadly attack on Jehovah's Witnesses

Kerala blasts: Man arrested after deadly attack on Jehovah's Witnesses
Kerala blasts: Man arrested after deadly attack on Jehovah's Witnesses

We show you our most important and recent visitors news details Kerala blasts: Man arrested after deadly attack on Jehovah's Witnesses in the following article

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - COCHIN — Police in India have arrested a man in connection with a series of explosions at a Jehovah's Witnesses meeting in the southern state of Kerala.

Three people were killed and more than 50 injured in the blasts at a programme held by the Christian-based religious movement on Sunday.

Police said the man, Dominic Martin, was arrested under an anti-terror law.

He had earlier posted a video claiming responsibility for the attacks and surrendered to police.

The blasts took place during the last day of a prayer session organised by Jehovah's Witnesses in the town of Kalamassery, about 10km (six miles) north-east of the port city of Kochi (Cochin). More than 2,000 people were attending the three-day event.

TA Sreekumar, a regional spokesperson for the Jehovah's Witnesses, told local media that the first blast took place in the middle of a hall, and two more explosions took place seconds later on either sides of the hall.

Two women who attended the meeting died on Sunday, while a 12-year-old girl with 95% burns succumbed to her injuries on Monday.

Hours after the explosions, Martin posted a video on claiming to be a former member of the Jehovah's Witnesses who planned the blasts because he was angry with the group's teachings. But Sreekumer told Reuters that Martin was "not a registered member".

"We are convinced that he committed the crime based on his confession and corroborating pieces of evidence we collected," Kochi city police commissioner A Akbar said on Monday.

Akbar said Martin was cooperating with the police.

The blasts sent shockwaves across the country, and security was stepped up in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities.

The Jehovah's Witnesses is a religious movement which believes that traditional Christian churches have deviated from the actual teachings of the Bible and Armageddon is imminent.

The group, which claims to have about 8.7 million followers worldwide and some 60,000 in India, has a strong presence in Kerala and is known for door-to-door evangelism in the state.

Queen Richard, a member of Jehovah's Witnesses who was in the hall when the bomb exploded, said she initially thought a short circuit had caused the explosion.

"As we closed our eyes and prayed, we heard that explosion in the centre of the hall. There was a huge flame," she said, adding that she and her husband, who has a disability, found it difficult to leave the hall.

"As soon as I got outside I fainted and fell down," she said. — BBC


These were the details of the news Kerala blasts: Man arrested after deadly attack on Jehovah's Witnesses for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.

It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Saudi Gazette and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.

PREV UK hate preacher Anjem Choudary convicted for leading terror group
NEXT US military raises alert level for Europe bases: reports

Author Information

I am Jeff King and I’m passionate about business and finance news with over 4 years in the industry starting as a writer working my way up into senior positions. I am the driving force behind Al-KhaleejToday.NET with a vision to broaden the company’s readership throughout 2016. I am an editor and reporter of “Financial” category. Address: 383 576 Gladwell Street Longview, TX 75604, USA Phone: (+1) 903-247-0907 Email: [email protected]