Shootout in Delhi; 4 JeM ultras held

NEW DELHI: Four suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad militants, including a Pakistani national, were arrested here on Sunday night after a fierce gunbattle with the police on a busy road near Connaught Place, foiling a major terrorist plot to carry out strikes in the capital.

A huge cache of explosives, including three kg of RDX, six hand grenades, four detonators, one timer and a revolver were seized from the militants.

The police responded with nearly 50 rounds of bullets when the militants opened fire at them on being challenged on the Ranjit Singh flyover at around 9:00 pm, causing an alarm among several motorists plying nearby.

The arrested militants have been identified as Shahid Gaffoor, a resident of Sialkot in Pakistan, and Bashir Ahmed, Fayyaz Lone and Abdul Majeed ��� all hailing from Jammu & Kashmir.

Their specific targets in the capital were not immediately known and their interrogation is on, a senior police official said.

���We are questioning them to find out their motive and their contacts here,��� deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Alok Kumar said.

The arrests came against the backdrop of the station master at the Old Delhi railway station receiving a letter purportedly sent by militant outfits al-Qaida, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), warning of attacks at the residence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Golden Temple in Amritsar, Vaishno Devi shrine and Raghunath temple in Jammu.