National

Kerala Blasts: CM Vijayan Holds All-Party Meet, Resolves To Resist Efforts To Create Mistrust, Spread Misinformation

Multiple explosions rocked a convention centre in Kalamassery near Kochi on Sunday. The event was a prayer meeting of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian religious group with its origins in the United States during the 19th century.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan called for ceasefire in Gaza strip immediately.
info_icon

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan conducted an all-party meeting on Monday in the wake of the multiple blasts at a religious gathering in the state that claimed three lives. The attendees unanimously resolved to resist any efforts to create mistrust and intolerance, the chief minister's office said in a statement. 

The leaders also resolved to urge people not to indulge in baseless accusations, speculation campaigns and rumour-mongering. Earlier, the police had asked citizens to steer clear from misinformation spreading on social media platforms.

The meeting started around 10 am at the Chief Minister's conference hall in the Secretariat complex, Thiruvananthapuram.

Multiple explosions rocked a convention centre in Kalamassery near Kochi on Sunday. The event was a prayer meeting of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian religious group with its origins in the United States during the 19th century.

Initially, one woman had died and 52 were injured, six of them critically, in the blasts.

Subsequently, one of the six critically injured -- a 53-year-old woman -- succumbed to her injuries.

By Monday morning, the death toll rose to three with the death of a 12-year-old girl who had suffered 95 per cent burns in the incident.

State Police Chief DGP Shaik Darvesh Saheb had on Sunday confirmed that the blast was caused due to an improvised explosive device (IED). 

A few hours after the incident, a man claiming to be a member of Jehovah's Witnesses, surrendered before police in Thrissur district of the state, saying that he had carried out the multiple blasts.