In a major breakthrough, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad on Wednesday night arrested two suspected suicide bombers planning to launch suicide attacks during Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s rally.
The suspected terrorists were arrested near the railway station in Gorakhpur city of Uttar Pradesh.
Reports suggest that the ATS officials recovered 1 AK-47, a number of pistols, and live cartridges from them.
The two are likely to be produced in court later today.
The suspects were part of a terror module which was planning to target senior political leaders, including BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, during campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls, informed sources told a news agency.
Reports also claimed that the men were trained by Taliban.
Both the men, identified as Barkat and Muzammil, are said to be Pakistani nationals, and were taken to the Lucknow headquarters of the Anti-Terror Squad for further questioning.
Officials while refusing to comment on specific leads in the case confirmed that the two were “directed” to target prominent leaders as “human bombs” during election rallies.
“We were given some leads by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police after the arrest of Indian Mujahideen terrorist Tehsin Akhtar, and the arrests in Gorakhpur are a fall out of this tip off,” an official told a news agency.
Inspector General (ATS) Rajeev Sabharwal confirmed the arrest, but refused to divulge any further details.
Both the suspects are natives of Multan in Pakistan.
