Gunbattle erupts at Indian space centre in Bangalore
BANGALORE: Two unidentified men exchanged fire with security guards outside a high security space centre in southern India on Tuesday, the government said.
The brief shootout occurred in Byalalu, on the outskirts of India’s IT hub, Bangalore, outside an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) building.
The Home Ministry sees ISRO buildings as a high priority target for terrorists and has beefed up security around them after warnings of possible attacks.
However, the police said it was “too early to speak of a terror link”. Federal Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi that the attackers wore “some kind of a uniform” and possibly shot from country-made pistols, calling it “a kind of amateurish attack”. He confirmed that guards from the paramilitary Central Industrial Security Force had fired at the suspects.
India had raised security in the aftermath of a bombing that killed 16 people in western India last month. Home Secretary Gopal Pillai told Reuters on Monday that the Pune attack was carried out by home-grown terrorists with links to militants allegedly in Pakistan.
A spokesman for ISRO, S Satish said the shootout continued for some time, adding, “Two people were seen moving in a suspicious manner outside our centre... The police immediately challenged them, and they opened fire in retaliation.”
The police said they had started investigations to recover the two gunmen who had fled immediately after the attack.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...7-3-2010_pg7_5
Gunbattle erupts at Indian space centre in Bangalore
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