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Indian parliament attack planner killed

Two suspected Islamic militants have been killed in a battle with New Delhi police, while security forces have said they killed the mastermind behind the attack on the Indian parliament in 2001 that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

Police claimed Saturday to have killed Ghazi Baba, the alleged head of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e Mohammed militant group, during a fierce gun battle in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's portion of Kashmir. Jaish-e Mohammed is one of about a dozen Islamic militant groups fighting for Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan.

Security officials say Baba orchestrated several deadly terror attacks throughout India, including the December 2001 attack on Parliament. India blamed the assault on Jaish-e-Mohammed and Pakistan's spy agency. Both groups denied involvement.

Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan quickly massed troops on their border after the attack, but intense diplomatic efforts led by the US helped avert war.

In New Delhi, Saturday's gunfight occurred near a park after police intercepted a car in which the two militants were traveling, said Neeraj Kumar, deputy commissioner of police.

Kumar said the two men also belonged to Jaish-e Mohammed, which he said has been plotting attacks in the capital. The identities of the suspected militants could not be independently verified.

The gunfight came hours after police seized a truck carrying grenades at Sadar Bazar -- a trading hub in central New Delhi. The grenades and other weapons were hidden inside fruit boxes, Kumar said.

Three men in the truck were detained and later revealed during interrogation that the weapons were to be handed over later Saturday to the slain militants.

"Accordingly, we laid a trap. When we intercepted them, they tried to flee and were killed," Kumar said.

New Delhi has been on high alert since Monday, when twin bomb blasts rocked the country's financial center, Mumbai, killing 52 people and injuring 150. Those attacks were blamed on Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, another Islamic militant organization.

Recent media reports have quoted police as saying that Islamic militants were plotting attacks in New Delhi, prompting tougher security checks for vehicles coming into the city.

Earlier Saturday, police on a routine patrol of the city's main train station found a bag that contained explosives weighing around 21 kg on a railway platform. It was safely disposed of.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but both nations claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over it.
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