Indian police arrest two suspected militants over terror aggression

Police said Tuesday they arrested two more suspected militants in connection with last month's deadly shooting at a science institute in the southern Indian city of Bangalore. Nizamuddin, 24, who uses a single name, and M. Noorulla Khan, 25, were arrested in suburban Bangalore on Sunday and were to be held in police custody for 14 days for interrogation, a police officer said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. Nizamuddin, an electrician and Khan, a driver of three-wheel motor rickshaw, are from the suburb of Hesaraghatta, the officer said.

In the Dec. 28 attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, gunmen opened fire on a group of people coming out of a scientific seminar, killing a retired professor before escaping. Bangalore is one of India's technology hubs.

The attack has been blamed by police on Lashkar-e-Tayyaba or LeT, a Pakistan-based militant group fighting Indian security forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Police earlier this month arrested four of its suspected members, including a man they said was its operational head in southern India, Abdul Rehman.

Bombs placed in tin cans and lunch boxes, an electronic detonator, a loaded revolver and a telephone book with entries of other suspected LeT members were seized from the two men arrested on Sunday, the officer said.

Police said the shooting was the first of several attacks that militants planned to carry out on scientific and technology establishments, reports the AP.

D.M.