On 25 October 2022, the Coimbatore City Police arrested five Islamist radicals in connection with the gas cylinder blast incident that happened on the wee hours of 23 October 2022 in which 29-year-old Jamesa Mubin of Ukkadam was killed.
The five men who were identified have been identified as Mohammed Talka, Mohammed Azarudeen, Mohammed Riyas, Feroz Ismail, and Mohammed Navaz Ismail.
The blast happened outside the famous ‘Kottai Eshwaran Temple’. While mainstream media in Tamil Nadu have been trying to brush the terror angle under the rug, revelations through investigations and the invocation of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) has led to the suspicion that the blast could’ve been a terror act.
In fact, during a search at Mubin’s house, the police recovered a large cache of explosive material like potassium nitrate, aluminium, and sulfur, which are used to make crude bombs. Nails and ball bearing were also recovered from the spot where the explosion happened. It has been reported that there was a conspiracy to carry out a bomb blast akin to the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter Bombings.
An article by Saikiran Kannan to the India Today has exposed the deep ISIS plot behind the Coimbatore blast.
Who Is This Jamesa Mubin?
Jameesa Mubin from Ukkadam (a Muslim majority area in Coimbatore), was a radicalised Islamic State (IS) man and is believed to have been planning to execute the explosion either at Konniyamman Temple or Kotta Eswaran Temple in Coimbatore.
He had tried to execute an explosion a few years ago, but the attempt was thwarted by Tamil Nadu police, said sources. He was in close contacts with Mohammed Azharuddin, who is now lodged in Kerala jail for his involvement with the ISIS.
Azharudding was a Facebook friend of Zahran Hashim, the alleged mastermind of 2019 Easter church bombings that rocked Sri Lanka in 2019.
The plan here seems to have been to stage a terror strike similar to Easter bombings in Lanka in 2019 in which more than 250 people were killed.
The Growing Menace Of Islamic Radicalism In Tamil Nadu & Kerala
Back in June 2019, the NIA had conducted a series of searches at seven locations in Coimbatore. This was also a continuation of the Kasargod (Kerala) – ISIS breakthrough. A total of six people were arrested based on information received that the accused persons and their associates were propagating the ideology of ISIS on social media. They also had intentions of recruiting vulnerable youth into the ISIS for carrying out terrorist attacks in South India especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The prime accused in this arrest, Mohammed Azharudeen had been the leader of the module and had been maintaining a Facebook page named “KhilafahGFX”, through which he had been propagating the ideology of ISIS. Mohammed Azarudeen had been a Facebook friend of Sri Lankan suicide bomber Zahran Hashim and other members of the module had also been sharing radical contents attributed to Zahran Hashim, over the social media. Azharuddin also hailed from the Ukkadam area in Coimbatore.
When Azharudeen was arrested, multiple phones, sim cards, radical Islamic literature professing terror, an electric baton, guns, and other ammunition were recovered.
Another man named Ibrahim alias Shahin Shah was a close associate of one Riyas Aboobacker who had planned to conduct terrorist attacks in Kerala, on behalf of the ISIS. Aboobacker had also confessed to have been inspired by rabid Islamists Zahran Hashim and Zakir Naik.
Rashid Abdulla, who is allegedly the leader of ISIS recruitment in Kerala is said to have been killed by the US forces in Afghanistan. It was Rashid who had inspired people like Riyas Aboobacker to join the IS. His phone call recordings were part of the recent materials in possession of NIA which had helped to break into the recruitment modus operandi of IS in Kerala.
Zahran Hashim: The Radical Islamist Behind The Radicalization
The name connecting all the above individuals is Zahran Hashim, touted as the Zakir Naik of south India and Sri Lanka.
Zahran Hashim hailed from Kattankudy near Batticaloa in Sri Lanka and was of Tamil Muslim ethnicity. He ran the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), a Sri Lankan Islamic Jihadist group.
His speeches and videos had great influence among his followers in Southern India and also among the Tamil Muslims in Singapore and Malaysia.
But Zahran Hashim isn’t just a Zakir Naik. He is also an Ajmal Kasab in terms of executing his terror plans.
Zahran Hashim was one of the suicide bombers in the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter Bombings in which 3 churches and and 3 hotels were targeted in Colombo killing 269 people and several hundreds injured.
Zahran Hashim – Coimbatore – Mubin
Zahran Hashim has a strong influence among the Muslims of Ukkadam. In 2018, an ISIS module in Coimbatore was busted in which a few radicalized Muslims had zeroed in on attacking Hindu leaders and activists critical of Islamic terrorism.
The IS gang had conducted recee of their targets and their locations for launching attacks to disturb the communal harmony in the states.
The videos, seized from the accused in the Coimbatore case, showed Hashim asking youths from Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to establish an Islamic rule in the region.
In the Sri Lankan Easter Bombings, explosive laden vans were used to create explosions aside from suicide bombers.
It is to be noted that Mubin had 2 cylinders in his Maruti 800 which exploded prematurely according to reports. A CCTV footage shows Mubin and his freinds/associates carrying the cylinders and loading on to the car. What is worth mentioning is that Mubin was driving a petrol vehicle and not a gas-fueled car.
The blast which got him killed could’ve been triggered by mistake before the intended timing or destination. What further adds substance to the terror angle is that the gas cylinders were filled with nails to inflict maximum damage on people.
While the Tamil Nadu police have been prompt in investigating and identifying the other culprits, they along with Dravidian Stockist media in the state have been downplaying the incident as an “accidental cylinder blast” and not an act of terror.
Jameza/Jameesha #Mubin was 29y.o. man from the area #Ukkadam.
Reports say that he was radicalised by the #IS philosophy and was planning an #EasterBombing style operation in #Coimbatore and was planning to kick start the same from Konniyamman temple or Kotta Eswaran temple.
— Saikiran Kannan | 赛基兰坎南 (@saikirankannan) October 24, 2022
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