Coimbatore police on alert over possible terror threat

The Coimbatore police is on alert following a tip-off from Central and state intelligence agencies over certain terror elements regrouping in the city.

The police are on the lookout for certain former leaders and cadres of a banned Islamist organization trying to coordinate some people in the district.

A series of bomb blasts in Coimbatore on February 14, 1998, killed 58 people. Twelve explosions had taken place in a span of an hour in 11 places and in a 12 km radius.

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More than 200 people were injured seriously.

The blasts were targeted at BJP leader and then Union Home Minister, L K Advani who escaped unhurt.

The terrorist organisation Al-Umma was behind the attack and many leaders of the outfit including its founder leader, S A Basha, were imprisoned for life.

However, what makes the intelligence agencies zero in on Coimbatore is the recent car bomb blast in the city on October 23, 2022 in which a 29-year-old youth, Jameesha Mubin blew himself up in a car.

The incident happened on the eve of Diwali and if the bomb had gone off in the market, which was hardly 100 meters away from where it exploded, casualties would have been much higher.

This was considered a lone wolf case and the terror operative was planning a revenge attack.

Seven people, including the nephew of S A Basha, were arrested by the police and NIA interrogated these people several times.

After the ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI) last September, one of the key operatives of the organization, Rauf from Kerala was present in Coimbatore before being apprehended.

Sources in the Coimbatore city police told IANS that the police are keeping vigil on the movement of vehicles into the town and all the checkposts from Kerala's Palakkad district are monitored and vehicle checks conducted.