Coimbatore police probing Islamic State’s hand in car blast

COIMBATORE: The city police have begun investigating Islamic State in Khorasan Province's claim through its mouthpiece, 'Voice of Khurasan' magazine, that its terrorists are in South India and were involved in the Coimbatore car blast and Mangaluru cooker blast last year.
Following the statement issued by ISKP on Saturday, the city police have upped their monitoring of IS sympathizers and self-radicalized people.
"We are trying to check the authenticity of the report allegedly issued by ISKP with various sources. We are in touch with the National Investigation Agency (NIA), who are also trying to establish the authenticity. We are keeping around 200 people in the city under close watch. The intelligence section (IS) and the special intelligence cell (SIC) of the city police are closely monitoring them," an official said.
The city police have identified a few radicalized people and IS sympathizers.
"We have been collecting their call details and closely monitoring their social media and physical activities. We have strengthened our intelligence agencies and assigned intelligence officials for a section of people to monitor them," the official said.
Jamesha Mubeen, 29, of HMPR Street in the city, was killed in a car bomb blast in front of the Sangameswarar temple at Kottaimedu around 4am on October 23. The city police arrested six people in connection with the car blast. The case was transferred to the NIA, and the agency arrested five more people.
Police had earlier conducted searches at the residences of more than 50 people who were close friends of the accused. The city police also conducted searches at the offices and residences of people who were sympathizers of IS.