HYDERABAD: Hours before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was to arrive here, the police busted a terrorist plot with the arrest of two persons on Monday.

The police seized two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with an intricate detonation mechanism that could be activated by a cellular phone. They said terrorist groups backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) planned to attack the offices of the DGP, the city Police Commissioner and the Hitech city, from where a majority of software companies operated.

The uncovering of the plot and the arrest of Shakeel and Syed Hazi, both residents of Sapota Bagh in the city, comes on the heels of the terrorist attack at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. On October 12, the office of the police task force in Hyderabad was attacked by terrorists.

Security has been tightened in the city, where major events such as the Indian Science Congress, the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas and the AICC plenary are to be held.

The IEDs could have caused considerable damage, the police said.

Police Commissioner Ajit Kumar Mohanty sounded a note of caution, saying more explosives could have been smuggled into the city. "This is not the end. Operatives of some terrorist groups could be moving around."

After the suicide attack on the task force office, terrorists wanted to carry out similar attacks, but could not recruit local youths.

This failure, along with the arrest of Zahed and Kaleem in December had forced terrorists to postpone further attacks, Mr. Mohanty said.

He said Shakeel and Hazi got the explosives from Shahed, who operated from Saudi Arabia. Shahed, the police believe, had come to Bidar and delivered the IEDs. He is suspected to be the man who formed the unit responsible for the task force office attack, among others.

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