LeT hand not ruled out in Bangalore attack

The police on Thursday did not rule out the involvement of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in the terror attack on the Indian Institute of Science campus in Bangalore, as two more hand grenades were recovered from the premises.

Speaking to reporters at the J N Tata Auditorium complex, the scene of terrorist attack which killed a retired professor of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and wounded four others, Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Singh did not rule out the hand of LeT, which reportedly had the IISc on its hit list.

He also did not rule out involvement of more than one person in the attack on delegates who were emerging out of an international conference.

• Image: Terror strikes Bangalore

Police sources said two more hand grenades were recovered on Thursday morning during the combing operation, in addition to the one live grenade packed in a cotton pouch found on Wednesday soon after the attack.

An AK-47-like weapon, 11 empty cartridges and two live magazines of an automatic weapon were also recovered yesterday.

Police said the attack looked like a 'well-planned one'. Organisers of the annual convention of Operational Research Society of India have, meanwhile, shifted the venue to another place.

Suspected terrorists had barged into the IISc campus and sprayed bullets indiscriminately, killing M C Puri, Professor Emeritus in Mathematics Department of Delhi, IIT, and wounding four others.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister N Dharam Singh said, "We suspect that it's a terrorist attack. We will verify the their base." He visited the campus which has now been turned into a virtual fortress following the incident on Wednesday night.

Singh said police were doing their best to hunt down the culprits - "We are going to trace out the whole thing." Meanwhile, the Centre has asked the state government to strengthen security in the city.

Singh said he had spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Shivraj Patil regarding the attack and they have directed the State to take steps to beef up security.

Responding to queries, he said the government had been taking steps on the security front but added, 'despite all that, it (terrorist strike) happens sometimes'. He denied that there was security lapse.

Meanwhile, the chief minister visited the two private hospitals where the injured had been taken.

Also read:

• The cop who warned of Bangalore attack
• Security was light at IISc