Delhi car blast: Why is Coimbatore on high alert? City police approach NIA for details of suspects
Even as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has launched a full-scale probe into the November 10 car blast in Delhi’s Red Fort area, a high alert has been sounded in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, given the city’s past brushes with ISIS-inspired operatives.
According to reports, the Coimbatore Police have approached the NIA and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to verify if any of the suspects in the Faridabad terror module, believed to be behind the car blast, had visited the city earlier.
The move was prompted by patterns observed in the previous terror incidents. In October 2022, Jamesha Mumbeen, a self-radicalised ISIS sympathiser, acted as a suicide bomber when a car exploded near the Kottai Sangameswarar temple in the city. The NIA has arrested 17 suspects in connection with the incident, though the agency termed it a “lone wolf” attack.
The security concerns deepened further after the Mangaluru cooker bomb blast in November 2022. During the investigation, it was revealed that the prime accused, Mohammed Shariq, had visited Coimbatore and several other places in Tamil Nadu before carrying out the attack.
“We have approached the NIA and the IB to get the details of suspects in the New Delhi car blast, to ascertain whether they had visited Coimbatore earlier. Since similar incidents in the past have shown links to Tamil Nadu, we are taking no chances,” an officer told IANS news agency.
According to officials, over 140 people suspected of being radicalised are under close monitoring by the city police. The officials are also scanning social media pages for extremist content.
The police teams have also begun the process of identifying and removing unclaimed cars and long-abandoned vehicles parked across the city to ward off potential threats.
The Delhi car blast took place hours after the Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana Police busted a Faridabad-based terror module and seized around 3,000 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, potassium chlorate and sulphur. Eight people, including three medical professionals, have been arrested in the case.
India