Desperate Islamic State claims responsibility for an attack that never took place

The fact of the matter is that both the Coimbatore as well as the Mangaluru blasts were botched up operations. Both the bombers failed to hit the desired target.

In a desperate bid to claim responsibility for a terror attack, the Islamic State ended up making a mess.

The Islamic State Khorasan Province, which is making desperate attempts to gain a foot-hold in India has ended up claiming responsibility for an attack in Bengaluru, which in reality never took place.

"Do you not consider our attacks in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Bengaluru where out brothers took revenge, read an article posted in the outfit's mouthpiece, 'Voice of Khorasan.' The contents of the article were released by the Al-Azaim Media Foundation.

While it is correct that there was a blast in Coimbatore, the fact of the matter is that there was none in Bengaluru. In fact the author of the article was referring to Mangaluru, but ended up claiming that the blast had taken place in Bengaluru.

The claim by the Islamic State came up in the wake of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) carrying out raids in 40 different locations in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in connection with the Coimbatore and Mangaluru blasts case which took place in October and November 2022 respectively. The NIA is trying to find the common link between the two blasts.

Both the Coimbatore and Mangaluru blasts were botched up operations. While the bomb being carried by Jamesha Mubin in Coimbatore exploded early, the same happened with Mohammad Shariq in Mangaluru. The probe has found that both operations were undertaken by self-radicalised Islamists, who subscribed to the ideology of the Islamic State.

During the course of the investigation, the NIA has arrested several suspects.

The Coimbatore blast took place outside the Kottai Eshwaran Temple. The bomb was being ferried by Mubin in a car and it exploded accidentally and never managed to hit the target. Mubin was killed in the blast.

In Mangaluru, which falls in Karnataka's coastal belt, Shariq was carrying the bomb in an auto-rickshaw. Shariq however survived the blast and is being treated at a hospital with burn injuries.

The article by the Islamic State also sought to take revenge on the Hindus and BJP. "O BJP and police and military officers. We promise you a bloody revenge in return," read the article.

The probe into the Coimbatore blast revealed that Mubin used to follow the Sri Lankan bomber Zahran Hashim. It was also revealed that when Hashim had come to Tamil Nadu, Mubin had met with him. An official tells OneIndia that during the course of the investigation, it was also found that there were several conspiracy meetings held in the Sathyamangalam forest in Tamil Nadu in February 2022. The conspiracy meetings held in forests is nothing new. Such conspiracy meetings had taken place several times in other cases as well. This correspondent had reported that even in the Mangaluru case, it was found that conspiracy meetings had taken place in the forests.

The NIA is trying to find the larger link into both these cases as it has learnt that Hashim during his visits to India in 2017 and 2018 had planned on setting a large module of the Islamic State in South India.