Speaker Nasheed says he fears start of suicide attacks in Maldives

Parliament Speaker, former Mohamed Nasheed said on Saturday that there is danger of the beginning of suicide attacks in Maldives.

Speaking at the launch on MDP Haruge on social media app Clubhouse, Nasheed, who is in Germany undergoing treatment for injuries he sustained in an IED attack last May, said the use of explosives and threats to life has undergone dangerous advancements in Maldives, with the involvement of technologically advanced individuals.

Nasheed said he fears it spells for dark days ahead.

“I imagine a very dark picture. That is, the beginning of suicide attacks among us,” he said.

Nasheed said that Maldives needs to think deep regarding people who make such nefarious plans, and overcome what is going to happen, even if it requires arresting a large number of people.

He called for proactive action to prevent suicide attacks.

Nasheed said that many people involved in terrorist activities and who harbor terrorist ideologies are pardoned and walk free too easily.

He said that the danger facing Maldives is no small matter, and such dangerous people therefore must not be allowed to walk free so easily.

“I believe the local judges must receive a big message. They must not allow for them [terror suspects] to be remanded for 10 or 15 days and then released to the streets,” he said.

A homemade remote-controlled IED was strapped to motorcycle parked nearby Nasheed’s residence, and was detonated at 08:27 pm on May 6, just as Nasheed, 54, exited his residence and went to get in his car. Nasheed was thrown to the ground and sustained multiple shrapnel wounds, while three members of his security detail and two bystanders sustained minor wounds.

He was rushed to ADK Hospital, where he underwent multiple lifesaving surgeries to remove ball bearings and other shrapnel, some of which perforated his internal organs.

He was transferred to a military hospital in Germany on May 13.

Police are treating the May 6 blast as a targeted terror attack to assassinate Nasheed. They have made three arrests in connection to the case: Ahmed Adhuham Rasheed, 26, Hiyaa, GDh. Thinadhoo; Mujaz Ahmed, 21, Ma. Feyruge, K. Male’; and Thahmeen Ahmed, 32, Folheyma, GA. Kondey. Adhuham is believed to be the man who detonated the IED.