HuM militants' link to IISc shootout being probed: DCP

Ahmedabad, Mar 22 (UNI) The Gujarat police is probing if the four Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin militants, killed in an encounter here last Friday, had any links with Indian Institute of Science shootout incident of December last year.

This aspect is being probed by the Gujarat police and its Bangalore counterparts, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Mr Manoj Shashidhar told reporters here this evening.

Mr Shashidhar said though their link to Varanasi and Ahmedabad station blasts have not yet been established, police is probing if they were involved in the IISc shootout.

''That one of these militants, Phurkan Iqbal Ahmed, a resident of Karachi, had been to Bangalore, has been confirmed,'' he said.

He was among the four HuM militants killed in an encounter with a Gujarat Crime Branch team on Friday.

''Eye-witnesses in the IISc incident had said the militants had looked like Kashmiris. So we and our Bangalore counterparts are probing into that angle too,'' he said.

Mr Shashidhar said the Bangalore police had confirmed that Phurkan had procured a Life Insurance policy and a driving license, assuming another name from there.

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