Ever since 1990, there had been many instances of seizure of explosives from the suspected hideouts of fundamentalist outfits in northern Kerala.

The bomb explosions in a train that arrived from Chennai at Thrissur railway station two years ago, coinciding with the anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition, the arrest of some of the accused in the Coimbatore serial bomb blast case from northern Kerala and the recent recovery of 20 kg of powerful explosives from Kochi-Kurla Express amply demonstrated the links of Tamil Nadu-based shadowy Islamic fundamentalist outfits with Kerala.

No doubt, these incidents have instilled a feeling of insecurity in the minds of the peace-loving people of the state. Intelligence sources suspect that following a crackdown on extremist organisations in TamilNadu, particularly after the Coimbatore blasts suspectedly targeted at Home Minister LK Advani, many activists of fundamentalist outfits such as the outlawed Al-Umma and Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetta Kazhagam have fled to Kerala and taken shelter under the protective umbrella of certain `hospitable' organisations and their activists in the state.

Several factors help the fleeing extremists from Tamil Nadu to set up secret bases in Kerala. Kerala's proximity to Tamil Nadu, the prevalence of a large Muslim population in northern Kerala, political patronage and respectability extended to certain fundamentalist organisations by some of the ruling and Opposition parties and, above all, the complacency of the local intelligence and law enforcing agencies are some of them.

There are reports that Al-Umma is very active among Tamil migrants in Ponnani taluk of Malappuram district, some of whom are even converted to Islam and used for extremist activities. It is noteworthy that a number of Al-Umma activists accused inthe Coimbatore blast case were Tamil Hindus converted to Islam.