Technology hub attack foiled

2006-10-27 13:35

New Delhi - Police have arrested two suspected Islamic militants who were allegedly plotting a "devastating" terror attack in India's southern Karnataka state which includes Bangalore, the country's technology hub, a news report said on Friday.

The two detained men are Pakistani nationals and belong to the Al-Badr militant group, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted a top state police officer as saying.

Al-Badr is among about a dozen such groups fighting security forces in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

The two men were captured by police after a shootout in Mysore city in Karnataka state on Thursday night, the report quoted police chief BS Sial as saying.

'Devastating strike'

Sial said the arrests helped avert a "devastating (terror) strike in Bangalore or some other parts of Karnataka."

One of the militants and two police constables suffered minor injuries in the arrests, he was quoted as saying.

Mysore is about 140km west of Bangalore, the state capital.

The two men were identified as Mohammed Ali Hussain and Mohammed Fahad, Sial said. Police seized a Pakistani passport from one of them, he said.

Police recovered a satellite phone, a laptop computer, a digital camera and an AK-47 rifle in addition to detonators, the PTI report quoted Sial as saying. The two men were also carrying sketches of the state legislature building in Bangalore, he said.

The reported arrests came a day ahead of an international information technology conference in Bangalore. Security has been tightened in the city, the report said.

- AP