MALAPPURAM: A ‘pressure cooker’ bomb placed in a car exploded on the Malappuram Civil Station premises on Tuesday, spreading panic in the region. The incident took place near the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court around 1 pm when the Malappuram Collectorate was abuzz with activities. No casualty was reported but the effect of explosion broke windshields of two cars.
Police did not confirm the explosion as a terrorist act but recovered a letter attributing the blast to ‘Base Movement.’
They also recovered a box containing a pen drive, a photograph of slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a message referring to Mohammed Akhlaq, a farm worker who was killed in mob lynching in Uttar Pradesh.
“On September 28, Mohammed Akhlaq was killed by the terrorists of India (cq)...became shame in front of the world. Because of eating beef he was killed,” the message read. The letter concluded with a warning - “Count your days.” Police said the attack bore similarities to blasts at the Kollam Collectorate, Chittoor court and Mysore court complex. It is learnt that ‘Base Movement’ is behind all the three incidents.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will join hands with the state police to take forward the investigation into the bomb blast took place on the premises of a court in Malappuram on Tuesday. On Wednesday, an NIA team from Kochi will examine the blast spot and materials recovered by the police during the preliminary inquiry.
According to NIA officials, there are similarities between the Malappuram blast and the explosion occurred in Mysuru in August, which is currently under investigation. In the Mysuru blast, a pressure cooker with explosive was detonated using a timer.
The latest blast is the fourth reported in South India this year, with the first two locations being Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh (April 7) and the Kollam Collectorate (June 15). All of them were low intensity explosions.
“Considering the similarity between the latest incident and the Mysuru blast, which is being probed by the NiA, we will work with the state police in the investigation,” said an NIA official. In 2009, a low intensity explosion had taken place at the Ernakulam Collectorate at Kakkanad.
However, the investigations into these cases have not made any headway yet.