Police arrested five Bangladeshis and detained three Indian teachers at an Islamic school for their suspected involvement in an attack Tuesday on policemen guarding a US cultural center, a top government official said yesterday.
Sourin Roy, chief secretary of the West Bengal state government, told reporters the arrests were made Tuesday night on the outskirts of Basirhat, 65km north of Calcutta and close to the India-Bangladesh border.
"We are verifying their links with Pakistan's spy agency and a Dubai-based mafia don, but we can not disclose details at this stage," Roy told a news conference.
Calcutta police said they seized a motorcycle belonging to Korban Ali, one of the arrested religious teachers. They said it may have been used in the attack by motorcyle-riding assailants who killed four Indian policeman and injured 20 other people.
One of the contract guards on duty at the American Center during the 6:30am Tuesday attack was also hurt.
Police officers who survived the attack said their own weapons were useless and the gunmen appeared professional and determined. Some of the guns used by the police jammed and others were not loaded.
"The ... Enfield bolt action rifle we use belongs to the World War I era. It takes at least two and a half minutes to get loaded," Bablu Mondal said from his hospital bed yesterday. "How can you expect us to face these gunmen armed with AK-47s?"
Indian officials have blamed the attack on Harkat-ul-Jehadi-al-Islami, a Pakistan-based group with a little known branch in Bangladesh.
India accuses Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency of supporting the militants with arms and training, a charge that Pakistan denied. The Harkat group also denied Tuesday any involvement in the attack on the American center.
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