Two militants of Pak. based Al Badr arrested in Mysore

Bangalore, Oct. 27 (PTI): Two militants belonging to Pakistan-based Al-Badr outfit have been arrested in Mysore after a gunbattle with police today saying that it foiled a “devastating” terror strike plan in the state following their capture.

Mohd Ali Hussain and Mohd Fahad were intercepted while they were riding a motorbike and captured after a shootout late last night, Karnataka Director General of Police B S Sial told reporters.

Two constables and a militant suffered minor injuries in the gunbattle, he said adding police had foiled the militants’ plan to carry out “devastating strike” in Bangalore or some other parts of Karnataka.

Sketches of the state secretariat ‘Vidhan Soudha’ and its newly constructed annexe ‘Vikasa Soudha’, a satellite phone with numbers linked to Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan, a laptop and some commonly available chemicals used for making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were recovered from the militants, Sial said.

An AK-47 rifle, a foreign made pistol, a cell phone, detonators, a digital camera and passports were also recovered from them, he said.

Describing their arrests as a “major breakthrough”, the police chief said, “a major disaster or terrorist activity” has been averted in Bangalore or other places in Karnataka.

The state police, he said, had inputs from the central intelligence agencies that a foreign based terrorist outfit was planning a “spectacular or devastating strike” in ‘Vikas Soudha” or “Vidhana Soudha” or “some other important places”.

Karachi-based Fahad was a post-graduate in “analytical chemistry” who had been trained in making explosives and was influenced by the Al-Badr ideology which was critical of Gujarat riots and Babri Masjid demolition, he said.

Fahad, who was also well-versed in computers and IT-related software and had an Indian Visa, was staying in Mysore for the past six to eight months and running a shop called “Royal Fancy Stores” as a cover up for his activities, Sial said.

Hussain, a school drop-out, was involved in terrrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir before moving to Mysore three or four months ago, the DGP said.

Police had information that Fahad came through Mumbai, Sial said maintaining that this would be verified through investigations.

Al-Badr is a “notorious terrorist outfit” banned by India under The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004, he said.

Asked about the possibility of associates of the arrested terrorists having escaped, Sial said he did not rule it out. Police were keeping a close watch on airports and railway and bus stations, he added.

To a question if the terrorists had RDX with them, he said, “they may be having. We are trying to find out about their hideouts, their associates, their plan and whether they were expecting material support and from which quarter”.

He said the police would download the data in the laptop, analyse telephone numbers and other information and get in touch with the central intelligence agencies .

The terrorists had surveyed the “Vikas Soudha”, which was “exposed” in terms of security, he said.

The central intelligence agencies had also informed the state police that some foreign-based terrorists had sneaked into Mysore and “perhaps are hiding there and planning some terrorist activities”, an input that made the police to keep a close watch, Sial said.

He said the two terrorists had also surveyed the Central Institute of Regional Languages in Mysore, a reputed institute which attracts foreigners.

Terrorists had struck at the Indian Institute of Science here last year during an international conference killing a former IIT-Delhi professor.

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