Lucknow, March 7 (agencies): Mohammad Saiful, the suspected terrorist who had been holed up in a home in Thakurganj, Lucknow has been reported to be killed by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad. The operation in Thakurganj begun around 3:30 pm after the Uttar Pradesh police received inputs regarding possible terror suspects hiding in the state. The police were successful in arresting one such suspect in Kanpur. The operation in Thakurganj continued for six hours and it came to an end after the suspected terrorist was killed in an ATS operation. As per the latest reports, there are at least two suspected terrorist holed up in a home in Thakurganj and the operation is still on. The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad were trying to catch the suspected terrorist alive and the ATS were using chilli bomb to make the suspected terrorist surrender. Addressing the media, Inspector General of ATS Asim Arun had stated that.” In order to arrest him alive, we used chilli bombs but he has not come out yet. He is firing intermittently”. ATS IG Asim Arun kept focusing on his statements that the ATS wants to catch the suspected terrorist alive further adding that ATS has stopped firing. “the suspect is firing intermittently, but we have stopped firing,” he said. However, Mohammad Saiful kept on refusing to surrender and continued firing after which ATS reportedly killed the suspected terrorist. The siege in Lucknow’s Thakurganj came to an end after the suspected terrorist Saiful was killed in the ATS operation, reported India Today. The operation began hours after an explosion occurred on a Bhopal-Ujjain train in which at least eight people were injured. The DIG of Madhya Pradesh had confirmed that the blast was a terror attack after which the operation began throughout the country. Till now, there have been five people arrested in this matter. It is been reported that both the Kanpur and Lucknow suspect had links to the blast. The terror threat in Uttar Pradesh came a day before the voting of the seventh and final phase of the Assembly elections are to be held.
