2023-10-30 05:43:37
The motivations could be religious, in a country where tensions are high. Two people were killed and 35 others injured on Sunday in southern India, in the explosion of a homemade device during a Christian prayer bringing together more than 2,000 people. The explosion occurred Sunday morning at the Zamra International Convention Center in Kalamassery, near the port city of Kochi, where a three-day meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses was being held.
“The preliminary investigation shows that it was the explosion of an improvised explosive device,” local police director general Darvesh Saheb told reporters. “We will find out who is behind all this and take strict action,” he promised.
Four bomb blasts rock Kerala at a Jehovah’s Witness meeting, in Kalamassery, where Jews live as well. This video was taken immediately after the blasts. One person killed and over 30 are injured.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is busy in Delhi protesting against Israel. pic.twitter.com/38HCEquudK
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) October 29, 2023
A man then went to police after posting a video on social media and television channels in which he claims to be a former member of the Church with which he now says he disagrees. Police said they would “examine his claims and the reasons given for committing this act”, the Times of India.
Two people died and 35 others are receiving medical treatment, the police chief said. The deceased are two women, one who died in the explosion and the other who succumbed to her injuries, according to a local police official, PV Baby. For its part, the PTI press agency (Press Trust of India) reported three “explosions” during Sunday morning prayers in the important Kalamassery conference center.
Religious tensions
India has 1.4 billion inhabitants, more than 2% of whom are Christians, according to the latest census. Best known for their door-to-door preaching and regularly accused of being a sect, Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of the Christian evangelical movement, born in the United States, and preach non-violence and political neutrality. The explosion comes against a backdrop of tensions within this prosperous state in the south of the country, which has more than 31 million inhabitants, 26% of whom are Muslims, according to the last census in 2011.
Kerala’s director general of police called on “everyone to remain calm” following Sunday’s blast. Saheb also requested “that no provocative messages be posted on social media”, to ensure maintenance of “peace” in the state.
The explosion came a day after former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal addressed a pro-Palestinian protest by video in Malappuram, in the same state of Kerala, some 115 km north of Kalamassery. No official connection has been made between the two events.
The broadcast of Khaled Mashal’s pre-recorded speech, organized by a youth group affiliated in the state with the Islamist Jamaat-Islami party, was condemned by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
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