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| Image Source: Al-Jazeera |
The blast occurred as hundreds of people gathered for Sunday prayers in the southern town of Kalamasari in Kerala state.
An explosion at
a Christian church in the southern Indian state of Kerala has killed one person
and injured at least 36, according to authorities.
The explosion
occurred when hundreds of followers of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect gathered
for prayers at a convention center in the town of Kalamasari on Sunday morning.
"At 9:40
a.m. [04:10 GMT], an explosion occurred at the Zimara International Convention
Center in which one person died and 36 are under treatment," Kerala
Director General of Police Darvesh Sahib told reporters.
"We will
find out who is behind it and take strict action ... preliminary investigations
suggest that it was an IED [Improvised Explosive] blast," he said.
Videos filmed
shortly after the blast and posted online show flames inside the building and
rescuers helping people out.
"We are
probing all angles and will find out who is behind it," Sahib added.
Jehovah's
Witnesses are a sect of Christianity known for their worldwide practice of
door-to-door evangelism. The movement teaches non-violence and remains politically
neutral, with members refusing to vote or serve in the military.
His followers
say that India, with a population of 1.4 billion, has only 60,000 Jehovah's
Witnesses. According to the 2011 census, there are about 28 million Christians
in India.
A section of
local media reported that there were three separate explosions at the prayer
meeting, each in a different area of the convention hall.
"The
explosions occurred seconds after the end of prayers as part of the day's
ceremony. The first explosion occurred in the middle of the hall. Seconds
later, two more explosions occurred simultaneously on both sides of the
hall," a regional spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses said. TA Sreekumar
told mathrubhumi.com.
Jehovah's
Witnesses, founded in the United States in the 1870s, have often been
persecuted around the world.
In Russia, the
movement has been labeled an "extremist" group despite its pacifist
views, and hundreds of its followers have been arrested in recent years.
In March, a
gunman killed seven people at a Jehovah's Witness synagogue in Hamburg,
Germany.
(New Credit: Al-Jazeera)
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