Police kill IS terrorist after 12-hour gun battle

An alleged terrorist, suspected to have been influenced by the ISIS, was killed here early on Wednesday after a 12-hour police operation in the wake of the Ujjain- Bhopal train blast.

Saifullah's body was found with weapons lying next to him when the doors of the house where he was holed up since Tuesday afternoon were opened at the end of the operation, ADGP (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary told a press conference here.

The encounter came as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh police teams carried out arrests of several "self-radicalised" persons suspected to be linked to Tuesdya's train blast in Shajapur in MP in which ten persons were injured.

Among the suspects held are Kanpur residents Mohammed Faisal Khan, Mohammed Imran alias 'Bhai Jaan' and Danish, who are believed to be brothers, according to police officials.

Police have also arrested Fakr-e-Alam alias Rishu from Etawah and Atiq Muzaffar, a resident of Kanpur, who allegedly was leading the group. Another person identified as Shailendra has also been held from Auraiya, officials said.

"These people were self-radicalised and self-proclaimed believers of ISIS ideology. They had no financing from any foreign source. They were using their own properties and other sources to fund their activities," he said.

Speaking about the encounter in Lucknow, ADGP Chaudhary said that eight pistols, ammunition, bomb-making equipment, timers, wires and other material were found in addition to gold and cash after the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) operation ended.

"They (suspects) tried several times to carry out small- scale terror activities,....low-intensity bombs but were not successful," Chaudhary claimed.

The UP police ADGP also said that two laptops which have been recovered from Lucknow and Kanpur have made it clear that the suspects were self-radicalised and influenced by ISIS literature available on social media.

"They also browsed the internet to learn how to make bombs," Chaudhary said.

"We found three passports. Four persons were living in the rented house for a few months. They would meet and frequently do a recce. We also found compass, batteries, six mobile phones, 45 gram of gold, foreign currency and literature in Urdu and English," he claimed.

Meanwhile, Sartaz, the father of Saifullah, refused to claim his body saying that a "traitor" could not be his son.

Another resident of Kanpur, Naseem Ahmad, claimed that his sons, who had been arrested, were innocent and demanded an impartial probe.