Telangana police kill five militants as they try to escape

Telangana police shot dead five alleged Islamist militants, including dreaded ISI operative Vikaruddin, in an encounter near Alair in Nalgonda district on Tuesday morning.

The encounter took place when the undertrials,  who were being brought to a court here from Warangal jail, reportedly tried to snatch the weapons from the escort personnel.

The undertrials were facing terror cases  including Vikaruddin Ahmed, a native of Hyderabad, who was accused of killing two policemen here in 2009 and another one in Maninagar in Gujarat. Vikaruddin Ahmed, the  founder  of a local terror outfit Tehreek-Ghalba-e-Islam (TGI), was arrested in 2010. The other four men were his associates.  According to the Warangal police, a convoy of three vehicles carrying the undertrials left the Warangal Prison at 8:30 am and the encounter took place at around 10:25 am.

The police said Vikaruddin requested them to stop the vehicle as he has to attend nature’s call. All of the five then lunged at the policemen and snatched a firearm and tried to shoot. One of the escort policeman told reporters that the men, attempted to overpower them and snatch a weapon in a bid to escape. “We were forced to fire at them in self-defense,” he said. Other prisoners killed were Zakir, Amjad, Hanif and Izhar Khan. Warangal SP A K Jha and Range IG B Malla Reddy,  Nalgonda SP Vikramjit Duggal along with Hyderabad Range DIG Y Gangadhar too arrived at the scene.
Hyderabad IGP Naveenchand also rushed to the place. However, jurisdictional issues have delayed the post-mortem of the dead undertrials.

This was the third major terror-related incident in Telangana in the past week.  Two suspected SIMI activits were killed by police three days after they shot a constable and a home guard at Suryapet bus station in Nalgonda a week ago. Another police constable was killed in the second encounter.

The initial photographs and TV footage of the incident making rounds showed dead bodies slumped into the seats and aisle with assault rifles in their partially handcuffed arms. Meanwhile, activists have questioned the veracity of the encounter.
“How come 17 armed policemen failed to overpower five handcuffed undertrials ,” they said. Meanwhile, a judicial inquiry has been ordered.