Kerala blast death toll rises to three as 12-year old girl succumbs to her injuries

The death toll from the blast during a meeting of a Christian sect in Kalamassery town in Kerala rose to three after a 12-year-old girl succumbed to her injuries in the early hours of Monday, reported PTI. Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary M V Govindan said, "Kalamassery incident should be seen as a very serious incident. In today's time when the world is expressing solidarity with Palestine, the people of Kerala are standing for the people of Palestine. Whoever takes a stand, capable of diverting attention from it will be dealt with seriously. The state government and the democratically aware people should stand together and condemn this."He added, "We have to investigate if it has a connection with the Palestine issue. When we politically analyse, in such a situation an incident like this is part of terror activity. It should be very seriously investigated. We cannot call it an accident when there are parts of bomb found there. Let's not approach with a preconceived notion. Let them investigate. "

The girl has been identified as Libina from Malayattoor in Ernakulam district. In the statement issued by the Kalamassery Government Medical College Hospital, the girl was admitted to the hospital with severe burns covering 95% of her body.Despite receiving ventilator support, her condition continued to deteriorate, leading to her death at 12.40 am, it said, according to PTI. Hours after the attack, a man, Dominic Martin, claimed responsibility for the blast and surrendered before the police. He said he was a member of the religious group but had been angered by some of its teachings. In Kalamassery, Ernakulam distict of Kerala, a prayer meeting of the Jehovah Community was going on when there were explosions and a fire; injuring several people and also killing a lady. The investigation on these blasts is going on and it was also suspected that it might be a terror attack. The attack comes days after Hamas leader Khaled Mashal virtually participated in an event in Kerala and addressed a protest programme which had been organised by an Islamist group against Israel’s war. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan earlier, for an all-party meeting today at 10:00 AM and a 20-member probe team has also been announced by the Chief Minister. In the preliminary invesigation, it has been revealed that the cause of the explosion is an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). A bomb disposal unit of the National Security Guard (NSG) was also sent from Delhi to Kerala and both Mumbai and Delhi Police have been put on high alert.