Police in India have opened a high-level investigation after a collection of explosions killed three and injured over 50 folks within the southern state of Kerala.
The blasts occurred throughout an occasion by Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian-based non secular motion, on Sunday.
A person was detained after he posted a video claiming accountability for the assaults and surrendered.
Police mentioned they had been nonetheless attempting to confirm his confession.
“He’s in our custody however we’ve got not recorded his arrest to date. We’re nonetheless attempting to establish the veracity of his assertion, it’s going to take a while,” Kerala police’s Public Relations Officer Pramod Kumar instructed Reuters.
The incident occurred throughout a prayer session organised by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kalamassery city. Over 2,000 followers had been attending the three-day occasion.
Two folks died on Sunday, whereas a 12-year-old woman with 95% burns succumbed to her accidents on Monday morning.
Senior police official Shaik Darvesh Saheb mentioned a preliminary investigation indicated that an Improvised Explosive System (IED) positioned inside a tiffin field may need triggered the blasts.
Shortly after the incident, a person named Dominic Martin claimed accountability for the assault.
The 48-year-old posted his confession in a Fb video, which has since been deleted, and surrendered at a close-by police station.
Mr Martin claimed he was a registered member of the non secular group and was offended with its “anti-national” teachings.
However TA Sreekumar, a regional spokesperson for the Jenovah’s Witness, has denied this and instructed Reuters that he was unaware if Martin was even current on the occasion.
On Monday, Kerala Well being Minister Veena George instructed reporters that 17 folks had been admitted to completely different hospitals of which 12 had been beneath intensive care.
“4 are critically in poor health, three of them are on ventilator. Those that are critically in poor health have burns above 50-60%,” she mentioned.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the incident and introduced {that a} 20-member crew, led by the assistant director common of police, was investigating the incident.
He additionally mentioned that he would maintain an an all-party assembly on Monday to debate the following steps.
In the meantime, safety has been tightened in India’s capital Delhi and different cities like Mumbai in wake of the blasts.
With inputs from Ashraf Padanna in Kerala
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