Kozhikode: According to reports, it is believed that people belonging to terrorism took shelter at eastern parts of Kozhikode forest and convened meeting. Eyewitnesses say that they saw 18 people over several days in an uninhabited area.
It is learned that the group included young women who had spent a week in the forest. Intelligence agencies have launched an investigation into the incident.
Eyewitnesses say a group of strangers thronged the forest area where normal people cannot reach at that spot, in late July and early August. There are indications that some of the group stayed overnight in the woods and on the rocks. Others climbed to the top of the cliff every morning on a rough path. Some of them were girls. A makeshift tent was also set up here with bamboo poles.
The girls were reportedly staying at the home of a female leader of an IS-linked religious extremist group, with the help of some individuals in the area. Earlier, Bangalore police had arrested a man named Mohammad Yahya from the area on suspicion of having links with terrorists. Years ago, banned terrorist groups also conducted training on top of a hill in the same area.
The Central Intelligence Agency has confirmed that terrorist organizations are tightening their grip on the hilly areas of Kozhikode. Agencies do not rule out the possibility that training in the manufacture of explosives may have taken place here. The intelligence agencies are also moving to conduct an investigation focusing on the mobile tower location.
