Counter-terror

One AK-47 and two 30-bore pistols were recovered from the flat where the alleged terrorists were staying. However, no other ammunition or bomb-making material was found. Police also recovered seven mobile phones.

Officials said they received information last night that five terrorists were hiding in a flat in Batla House. A team of the Special Cell, of 60 armed officers in bullet-proof jackets, entered the fifth-floor flat, L-18, Sealing Club Road, at around 10.15 am. NSG commandos accompanied them.

Inspector Sharma, along with five officers, knocked on the doors of all the flats on the fifth floor. Around 10.30 am, the door to L-18 opened, and Sharma was shot thrice. Police said there were eight rounds of fire from the terrorists while they fired 22 rounds.

After Sharma was shot 8212; he later died in hospital 8212; several teams rushed to the spot. In the exchange of fire, police said, Atif and Sajid were killed and Saif was arrested.

Delhi Police officials said they came to know of the 8220;module8221; hiding in Batla House area of Jamia Nagar by tracking cellphone numbers which the men were reportedly using even five days after the September 13 serial blasts.

While one of the main accused in the Ahmedabad blasts, Abu Bashar, was brought to Delhi for questioning yesterday, Dadwal said the operation had nothing to do with him or what he had revealed.

The Ahmedabad Crime Branch had provided to the Intelligence Bureau numbers of at least half a dozen PCO booths in Delhi from where those suspected to be involved in the serial blasts in Ahmedabad and later in New Delhi were making calls.

The calls made from the New Delhi PCO booths first appeared in the call records of five mobile numbers that were recovered from SIMI activists in Ahmedabad and Vadodara arrested in connection with the July 26 blasts in Ahmedabad. It was the first indication that someone in Delhi had probably coordinated the Ahmedabad blasts.

Based on mobile records and intelligence inputs, the Delhi Police worked on identifying the area where the suspects could be holed up. Jamia Nagar was one of the several areas under watch.

Although the encounter took place just a day after Abu Bashar was taken to New Delhi, he did not mention Jamia Nagar among the places that he visited. 8220;From our interrogation records, it also appears that Mufti Abu Bashar may not actually know Mohammed Atif, the terrorist killed in the encounter. Or he may have known him by some other name because the name Mohammed Atif never cropped up in the interrogation of any of the dozens of accused and suspects,8221; said Ahmedabad Crime Branch Joint Commissioner Ashish Bhatia.

Officials said Atif was the 8220;mastermind8221; behind the Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Jaipur blasts, and supervised the making and planting of the bombs as well as arranging the logistics. This is contrary to Gujarat Police claims of Abu Bashar masterminding the blasts. The Delhi Police, however, made no claims of cracking the case, with Taqueer still absconding.

Some reports said Atif was running a module of 12 to 14 persons from the flat. 8220;He went to Ahmedabad on July 24 with nine others, two days before the blasts there, and then returned on July 27 to Delhi. He went to Jaipur too on July 13 for planting the bombs. He made bombs along with his accomplices,8221; said a source. Delhi Police believe it was he who recceed all the markets to place bombs in dustbins for the Capital attacks last week.

Late this evening, Delhi Police detained Atif8217;s former roommate Zeeshan who was talking to Headlines Today, a television channel, in Jhandewalan. He told the channel that he had gone to his hometown, Azamgarh, and returned on Friday. 8220;I had no idea that Atif had terror links. When I stayed with him, I never suspected him of having any such links,8221; he said. Police officers said Zeeshan was being detained for questioning.