Two Alleged Terrorists Killed in Delhi
Gun battle between cops and alleged terrorists follows bombings in Delhi, India.
NEW DELHI, India, Sept. 19, 2008 — -- Two alleged terrorists were killed this morning and two more escaped after Indian police raided a home in the Indian capital of Delhi to arrest five men suspected of being involved in bomb blasts in the city last Saturday.
One man was arrested in after the raid, which sparked a gun battle in a heavily populated neighborhood in south Delhi.
Police were tipped off that the men were living near a mosque in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Jamia Nagar, according to local reports. Two police officers were injured in the gunfight.
Local reports suggest that the five men were believed to be part of the HuJI (Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia) or SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) groups, but Rajan Bhaghat, Delhi police public relations officer, told ABC News that specific information regarding affiliations has not yet been released.
"It will take a while before details will be released," Bhaghat said, who confirmed that one of the men killed was wanted in connection with the Delhi blasts.
After the firefight ended, many people in the neighborhood crowded into the street, shouting religious slogans. "We are all against terrorism, then why was our religious places targeted?" asked one of the residents, according to The Press Trust of India.
Jamia Nagar is the same neighborhood where several suspects were arrested after the suicide attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001.
Today's raid comes after Saturday's blasts, which killed 21 and injured more than 100 people in the capital.
