Indian man detained over deadly attack on Jehovah’s Witnesses

Police in India have taken a man into custody for setting off a bunch of bombs at a gathering of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the southern state of Kerala.

Three people died and over 50 people were hurt in explosions at a Christian religious event on Sunday.

The police arrested a man named Dominic Martin using a law that deals with preventing acts of terror.

He previously shared a video saying he did the attacks and gave up to the police.

The explosions happened on the final day of a prayer event put together by Jehovah’s Witnesses in the town of Kalamassery, which is about 10km (or six miles) north-east of the city of Kochi (also known as Cochin). Over 2,000 individuals were present at the three-day occasion.

TA Sreekumar, who speaks for the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the region, said to local media that the first explosion happened in the center of a hall, and two more explosions occurred just after that on both sides of the hall.

Two women who were at the meeting passed away on Sunday. On Monday, a 12-year-old girl with very severe burns also passed away from her injuries.

A few hours after the explosions, Mr. Martin shared a video on Facebook, saying that he used to belong to the Jehovah’s Witnesses and was upset with their teachings, so he planned the bombings. Sreekumer told Reuters that Mr. Martin was not officially a member.
The police said that Mr. Martin was from the state of Kerala. He used to work in Dubai before.

Kochi city police commissioner, A Akbar said that they believe he committed the crime because he confessed to it and there is additional evidence supporting this belief.

Mr Akbar said that Mr Martin was working well with the police.

The explosions caused waves of shock throughout the country. Security was increased in Delhi, Mumbai, and other cities.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses is a religious group that thinks regular Christian churches have strayed from the true teachings of the Bible, and they believe that the end of the world, called Armageddon, is coming soon.

The group says they have around 8. 7 million people following them all over the world and about 60,000 in India. They are well-known in Kerala and go door-to-door to share their beliefs.

Queen Richard, a person who is part of the religious group called Jehovah’s Witnesses, was inside the building when a bomb went off. At first, she thought that a problem with the electrical wiring had caused the explosion.

We shut our eyes and said our prayers. Suddenly, we heard a big explosion in the middle of the hall. She said there was a big fire. She and her husband, who has a disability, had a hard time getting out of the hall.

“She said that right after I stepped outside, I passed out and fell to the ground. ”