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Journalism of Courage
After 12 hours of groping in the dark for clues on yesterday’s attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus, investigators today ran into remnants of the attacker’s gun-blazing march.
A khaki chest pouch, a travel bag, the AK-56 used for the attack, and a blue paper napkin with a few Urdu words written on it provided some insights into the origin and the affiliations of the attacker.
‘‘The words on the note were not decipherable. They were like half words. We have sent it to Delhi as well for deciphering,’’ DGP B S Sial said.
In the pouch, found dumped close to the outer boundary wall of the campus, were three live hand grenades of foreign make, three loaded AK-56 magazines with a total of 90 bullets of foreign make, one live SLR cartridge of Indian make and one live cartridge used for pistols like the 7.63 Mauser.
In the pouch were also four dried dates—associated with Pakistan-trained militants.
In the black travel bag, the police found a pair of old jeans with the brand name Inigo, size 34, of a length likely to be worn by a six-ft tall person. In the bag was also, what police say, is a pair of jacket shoulder straps that were cut with scissors. The bag and pouch were dumped at the periphery wall by the terrorist before he scaled it to get out of the campus, police said. A monkey cap was also found. DGP Sial and Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Singh indicated the attack could be the handiwork of Pakistan-trained terrorists. ‘‘The presence of the khajurs and the modus operandi indicate that,’’ Sial said. ‘‘There is no reason for us to believe there was a second weapon used. As of now, it was only one attacker,’’ Additional CP H C Kishore Chandra said.
