TN police on high alert after car bomb explodes in Coimbatore

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu police are on high alert after a 25-year-old youth was killed in a car explosion at Ukkadam.

Jameesh Mubin was killed in the explosion triggered by a gas cylinder burst in front of the Kottai Easwaran temple at Ukkadam on Saturday. The body was charred beyond recognition and police had to resort to other methods to identify him.

After identifying the deceased as Jameesh Mubin, the Coimbatore police conducted a search at his residence and found a huge stock of explosives. The police also claimed that the NIA had interrogated the youth for his involvement with ISIS and other Islamic organisations.

The police, however, refused to comment whether Mubin was trying to trigger a deliberate explosion as marbles and nails were found scattered at the accident site. Tamil Nadu Director General of Police C. Sylendra Babu reached Coimbatore on Sunday morning and conducted a high-level meeting with top police officers of the region.

Sources in the police told IANS that explosive materials like potassium nitrate, aluminum powder, sulfur, and charcoal were retrieved from his house and the police are not ruling out the possibility of a planned attack using the two cylinders in the car of which one had exploded.

Six special cells of the police teams have been deployed to crack the case and sources in the police told IANS that identifying the body was a herculean task.

DG of Tamil Nadu Police told mediapersons that Mubin had tried to get away from the police check post and this would have triggered the explosion.