{"id":7874,"date":"2023-10-29T17:54:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T14:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/?p=7874"},"modified":"2023-10-29T18:32:50","modified_gmt":"2023-10-29T15:32:50","slug":"explosion-hits-jehovahs-witnesses-prayer-meeting-in-indias-kerala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/explosion-hits-jehovahs-witnesses-prayer-meeting-in-indias-kerala\/","title":{"rendered":"Explosion hits Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses prayer meeting in India\u2019s Kerala"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"article-header\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead css-1wt8oh6\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>The blast takes place as hundreds gather for Sunday prayer in the southern town of Kalamassery in Kerala state.<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7875\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7875\" style=\"width: 1250px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7875 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Clip_2.jpg\" alt=\"A person who was at the Jehovah's Witnesses event in Kerala when a bomb exploded on the morning of October 29 recounted his harrowing experience. Aji, a committee member, said that everyone rushed out as soon as the explosion occurred. Police have said that preliminary information suggests that it was an improvised explosive device which was planted at the event in Kalassery. \" width=\"1250\" height=\"842\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Clip_2.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Clip_2-750x505.jpg 750w, https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Clip_2-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Clip_2-768x517.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1250px) 100vw, 1250px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7875\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A person who was at the Jehovah&#8217;s Witnesses event in Kerala when a bomb exploded on the morning of October 29 recounted his harrowing experience. Aji, a committee member, said that everyone rushed out as soon as the explosion occurred. Police have said that preliminary information suggests that it was an improvised explosive device which was planted at the event in Kalassery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7881\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7881\" style=\"width: 499px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7881 \" src=\"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Clip_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"499\" height=\"339\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Clip_3.jpg 520w, https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Clip_3-300x204.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 499px) 100vw, 499px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7881\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kerala minister Veena George meets those who were injured in the blast at a prayer convention in Ernakulam district on October 29. (Image: PTI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">An explosion at a Christian prayer meeting in the southern Indian state of Kerala has killed one person and wounded at least 36, according to authorities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The blast took place as hundreds of followers of the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses denomination gathered for prayer on Sunday morning at a convention centre in Kalamassery town in Ernakulam district.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cAt about 9:40am [04:10 GMT], there was an explosion in Zamra International Convention Centre in which one person died and 36 are undergoing treatment,\u201d Kerala\u2019s Director General of Police Darvesh Saheb told reporters.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-algn:center\"><span style=\"display:inline-block;text-align:center;\"><iframe allow=\"autoplay\" class=\"youtube_embed_iframe\"    allowFullScreen=\"true\" style=\"width:900px; height:500px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o9QTDEoCBeM?autoplay=1&theme=dark&loop=0&fs=1&showinfo=1&modestbranding=0&iv_load_policy=3&color=red&autohide=1&disablekb=0&enablejsapi=1&version=3\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWe will find out who is behind this and take stringent action \u2026 preliminary investigation shows it was an IED [improvised explosive device] blast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Videos filmed shortly after the explosion and posted online showed flames inside the building and rescuers helping people clear out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWe are examining all angles and will find out who is behind this,\u201d Saheb added.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) law and order, MR Ajith Kumar, said during a news conference that a person named Dominic Martin, who claimed responsibility for the explosion, had surrendered at a police station in Thrissur district about 65km (40 miles) north from the site of the incident.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=314&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FTheNewsMinute%2Fvideos%2F1827296551036848%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=560&amp;t=0\" width=\"750\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The suspect is \u201cclaiming that he has done it\u201d, saying that \u201che belonged to the same group\u201d, Kumar told reporters, adding that police is \u201cverifying\u201d the claims.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"jehovah-s-witnesses\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses sect of Christianity is known for its worldwide practice of door-to-door evangelism. The movement teaches non-violence and stays politically neutral, with members refusing to vote or serve in the military.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">India, with a population of 1.4 billion, has only about 60,000 Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses followers, its adherents say. There are about 28 million Christians in India, as per the 2011 census. {<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/10\/29\/explosion-hits-jehovahs-witnesses-prayer-meeting-in-indias-kerala\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">source<\/a>}<\/p>\n<\/header>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The blast takes place as hundreds gather for Sunday prayer in the southern town of Kalamassery in Kerala state. An explosion at a Christian prayer meeting in the southern Indian state of Kerala has killed&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7874"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7888,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7874\/revisions\/7888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}