BANGALORE: The Bangalore police, who are investigating the terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), have arrested two more suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives.

Police sources gave the names of the arrested as Irfan and Afsar Pasha.

They said Irfan, an Islamic preacher from Uttar Pradesh, had settled in Mulbagal in Kolar district. Pasha, a native of Chintamani taluk also in Kolar district, was working as a radiator mechanic at a garage in Lakkasandra in Bangalore, the sources told The Hindu.

Accomplices

The two are accomplices of the Lashkar's south India chief Abdul Rehman, who was arrested in Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh on January 1. Though the role of Irfan and Pasha in the IISc attack is yet to be ascertained, their links with the Lashkar have been confirmed, the sources said.

The police have booked against the two a case of waging war against the nation and spreading communal disharmony in the country, the sources said.

The police took into custody Irfan and Pasha for questioning a few days ago, the sources said. After confirming their links with the Lashkar, the formal arrest was made on Friday. The police are interrogating another person, Munna, who was taken into custody in Chintamani, the sources said.

In Cuddapah

A police team from the city took into its custody on Friday two persons in Cuddapah district in Andhra Pradesh, the sources said. The two, who are said to have connections with Abdul Rehman, are being brought to Bangalore, the sources added.

In a related development, the police have taken Mehaboob Ibrahim, who was arrested in Alamatti on January 15, to his hometown, Guledgudd in Bagalkot district, to corroborate the information given by him during interrogation, the sources said.

By arresting Ibrahim, a Saudi Arabia-returned fabrication mechanic, the police had unravelled Lashkar's plans to carry out explosions at the Kaiga nuclear plant, the Alamatti dam and the Sharavathi power transmission lines.

The police had seized gelatine from Ibrahim's garage in Alamatti.

Though the police have so far arrested four persons connected with the Lashkar, they are yet to identify and arrest the man who opened fire at the IISc on December 28, 2005, killing a scientist and injuring four civilians.

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