Bengaluru: Islamic Resistance Council (IRC), an unknown Islamic outfit, on Thursday claimed responsibility for the November 19 Mangaluru auto blast and warned of another attack in future.
The investigating agencies have taken this development seriously and further intensified operations to get to the roots of terror network.
In a statement, the IRS described the arrested terror suspect as their brother and said that the target was a temple in Kadri in Mangaluru city.
“Mangaluru has become fortress of saffron terrorists. Though our attempts this time have failed, we will get ready to carry out another attack by giving slip to state and central investigating agencies,” the statement read.
“Our brother’s attempt to attack Kadri Hindu temple has failed. This attack was not successful. The state and central agencies are trying to arrest our brothers. They are chasing them. However, we have been successful in getting out of the clutches of agencies. In future, another attack will be made.”
The Manjunatha Temple in Kadri has been built in the 10th century and is a famous temple in Mangaluru. It is learnt that Mohammad Sharique initially had planned to carry out a bomb blast near the Pumpwell. However, the IRC’s statement has now revealed that the Kadri Temple was the target of terrorists.
The agencies, which suspected the case of cooker blast case to be part of global terror conspiracy, are now verifying the claim by the Islamic outfit.
Notably, the blast occurred on November 19 in an auto. The cooker bomb was designed to carry out a large scale attack to fuel communal tension in the coastal region and in the state.
The probe revealed that the attacker initially targetted Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s programme and later wanted to blast it at a children’s fest organised by one of the institutions affiliated to the RSS.
Home Minister Araga Jnanendra has announced that the case would soon be handed over to the NIA.
Inputs by Sharan Raj
