As the investigation into the Coimbatore Car Blast in Tamil Nadu progresses, shocking facts are coming out. According to reports, the suicide bomber was trying to blow up the temple. Firoz Ismail, one of the six people arrested in this case, has also admitted to meeting the terrorists involved in the Easter serial blasts in Sri Lanka during interrogation. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also registered its first FIR in the case.
The blast took place at around 4 am on October 23, 2022, at the Kottai Eswaram temple in Coimbatore. 25-year-old Jamisha Mubeen was killed in this blast. The NIA has suspected Mubeen to be a suicide bomber. A large number of explosives were also recovered from his house. It is believed that he could not succeed in carrying out his mission due to being a novice in the use of explosives.
Officials investigating the case said that on October 22, 2022, a day before the attack, Mubin and his two accomplices Mohammad Azharuddin and Afsar Khan were seen in CCTV footage in the car carrying three steel drums filled with potassium nitrate, aluminium powder, sulphur, charcoal, and nails, etc. along with two LPG cylinders. Another footage also shows Mubin and his accomplices conducting a recce before the attack. The trio had also conducted a recce of Koniyamman temple at Big Bazaar Street and Puliakulam Mundhi Vinayagar temple.
The accused arrested in this case have told in the interrogation that Mubin thought that his suicide bombing mission would cause havoc within a radius of 50 to 100 meters in the area and some houses including the temple would also come under its purview. Firoz Ismail has also confessed during interrogation that he met IS terrorists Mohammad Azharuddin and Rashid Ali. Both were involved in the Easter serial blasts in Sri Lanka and are lodged in a jail in Kerala.
The next day after the blast, the police arrested five people. They were identified as Mohammad Thalka (age 25), Mohammad Asruddin (age 25), Mohammad Riaz (age 27), Firoz Ismail (age 27), and Mohammad Nawaz Ismail (age 27). Mubin’s relative Afsar Khan was arrested on October 27.
The NIA said in its FIR, “A search of the premises of deceased Jamiza Mubeen led to the seizure of 109 items, including potassium nitrate, black powder, nitroglycerin, PETN powder, aluminum powder, sulphur powder, sterile surgical, notebooks with details about jihad, etc.”
According to a report by India Today, the links of this are also being found in the serial blasts in Coimbatore in 1998. Mohammad Thalka is among those arrested after the car blast. He is the son of Nawab Khan, who is lodged in jail in the 1998 serial blasts. His uncle Syed Ahmed Basha is the head of Al-Umah, the terrorist organization responsible for the serial blasts.