Mangaluru blast accused got ISIS training, taught same to over 40 people: Minister Shobha Karandlaje
Bengaluru, Nov 25: Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shobha Karandlaje on Friday said the Mangaluru blast accused had got 'Islamic State training' and had imparted the same to more than 40 people.
Terming the information available about the blast accused Mohammed Shariq (24) as scary, she said the accused came out on bail in the anti-India graffiti case because intense investigation did not take place.
The graffiti case refers to slogans praising terror groups that had surfaced on some public walls in Mangaluru city in November 2020. Shariq was arrested in connection with the case and later released on bail.
"He (Shariq) had given ISIS training to more than 40 people. There is information that he himself got ISIS training," Karandlaje told reporters here.
According to her, the suspected cooker bomb that exploded in a moving autorickshaw was meant for targeting the Kadri Manjunatha Swami Temple in Mangaluru.
Maps of many temples in Mangaluru and its surrounding areas were found from Shariq, the Union Minister said adding that the accused had charted out a plan for it.
The objective of the blast accused was to create communal clashes in coastal Karnataka, explosion in temples and create problems for various leaders, Karandlaje claimed.
The BJP leader also said that in the coastal region of Kerala and Karnataka, people trained by ISIS in Syria and the members of the banned outfit Popular Front of India are involved in terrorist activities.
The minister appealed to the state police to cooperate with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in providing them necessary infrastructure and desired information to arrest the terrorists.
On November 19, an explosion took place in an autorickshaw which the police called a terror act after the probe.
The state government has handed over the case to the NIA for further investigation.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
