THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (AFP) – A suspected bomb blast during a prayer meeting in India’s southern state of Kerala killed one person and wounded 36 others, police said yesterday.
“At about 9.40am approximately there was an explosion in Zamra International Convention Centre in which one person died and 36 are undergoing treatment,” Director General of Police of Kerala Darvesh Saheb told reporters.
“We will find out who is behind this and take stringent action… preliminary investigation shows it was an improvised explosive device blast.”
More than 2,000 people were attending a three-day Jehovah’s Witnesses prayer meeting at a convention centre in Kalamassery near the port city of Kochi when the blast ripped through the crowd.
“We are examining all angles and will find out who is behind this,” Saheb added.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported at least three “blasts”.
Around two per cent of India’s 1.4 billion people are Christian, according to the last census.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are members of a United States-based Christian evangelical movement, who are best known for knocking on doors around the world, bible in hand, trying to convert people to their beliefs.
