Car blast a bid to unleash terror attack: Governor Ravi

COIMBATORE: Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Friday attributed the car explosion here on the eve of Deepavali to an attempt to unleash a major terror attack.

The explosives found later and IED-making chemicals and what goes into thems were enough to suggest that they had planned a series of attacks, Ravi said.

He said this while addressing a function at the JSS Institute of Naturopathy and Yogic Science and Hospitals near here.

"The incident that happened a few days back in the district was an attempt to unleash a major terror attack. The question is when the Tamil Nadu police got the suspects within hours, why did it take more than four days to bring in the NIA," he asked

"Why did the decision-makers take over four days to call the National Investigation Agency after the police arrested the suspects in the blast..." wondered Ravi.

"Terrorists are enemies of all and friends of none. We know terrorists don't work in isolation. They are a part of a larger network. What they were doing was part of a larger conspiracy. Coimbatore is a known place for terrorists hatching plots for a long time. They have been trained and taken to Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan," he said.

"Those involved in the car explosion were on our radar in the past. Where did we miss? Did we lose our monitoring system, asked Ravi.

"India is on the cusp of development and irreversibly moving forward. Our adversaries did not like our peaceful progress and the rise of India. But, they don't have the capacity to take on this country now as they know the cost of that. They did Pulwama and got the message with a surgical strike," he said.

"Now, they are trying to create problems within our country. And their most favourite tool is terrorism and thereby try to demoralise the country. It is a proxy war... the most sinister and secret way... We need to be very alert," Ravi said

The authorities must not go soft on terrorists and that decisions must be taken quickly. When it comes to conflict resolution, there must be unison between Union and State, the Governor said.