Bangalore to have Mumbai-type anti-terrorist Squad: HM

New Delhi, July 9 (UNI) The Karnataka Government today said an Anti-Terrorist Squad would be constituded for Bangalore on the lines of the one existing in Mumbai after the trail of the recent failed attack on Glasgow airport led to the city.

State Home Minister M P Prakash, who was here to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, said the proposal would be discussed at a meeting tomorrow which would be attended by top policemen of the state.

''We have raised the issue with State Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister B S Yediyurappa and he has given his in-principle approval for creation of such a cell to exclusively deal with anti-terrorist operations,'' Mr Prakash told newspersons.

He said the creation of ATS would involve higher spending as the it would engage the best and motivated staff to deal with the menace.

The new set up would be able to deal with not just the rowdy elements but also sophisticated, educated and religous indoctrinated elements too. The ATS would have its own intelligence set up, an analysis wing and manpower to preempt any terrorist attack. The members of the staff would not just get additional pay but also perks like free education for children and protection for family members in view of the sensitive nature of their work, the Home Minister added.

On the arrest of two doctors and an engineer in connection with the attempted attack on Glasgow airport in Britain, Mr Prakash said Bangalore was the Information Technology and Bio-Technology hub, but the detention of the youths had not come as a surprise.

Earlier also the city witnessed such terrorist incidents when there was an attack on Indian Institute of Science and a Kashmiri terrorist was nabbed with an AK-47 rifle in Hampi, the seat of Vijaynagar empire.

Meanwhile, sources said the Bangalore police had recovered a CD from one of the doctors residence, now under detention in Brisbane, Australia, and were going through the contents to ascertain his involvement in the crime.

UNI