Financial Times
Terror fears after attack on Indian university By Anita Jain in New Delhi Published: December 30 2005 00:15 | Last updated: December 30 2005 00:15
India Bangladesh borderIndia's high-technology hub Bangalore was on high alert yesterday after an attack by suspected terrorists at a top science university killed a professor and left four others wounded.
An unidentified gunman burst into a conference being held on the campus of the Indian Institute of Science on Wednesday evening and opened fire on delegates with an automatic rifle. The gunman has not been caught.
Authorities are focusing their investigations on terrorist groups, citing the use of an AK-47 and recent intelligence reports that terrorists have been planning to target the IT industry and other symbols of India's economic prosperity.
If confirmed as a terrorist attack, it would represent a new approach by militants who have previously targeted busy public areas, parliament or religious sites, such as temples.
As home to 1,500 technology companies, Bangalore has long been the face of India's IT revolution.
The city, on red alert, has heightened its security measures and is carrying out checks on people and vehicles. Other southern Indian cities such as Chennai are also on high alert and have called for additional security in light of the attack.
The shooting appeared to be "a pre-planned terrorist activity", involving up to three persons, said Dharam Singh, chief minister of Karnataka state of which Bangalore is the capital. He held an emergency meeting yesterday to review security measures and said all future national and international conferences held in the city would be guarded by police.
He also said the attack posed no threat to investment in Bangalore.
"The intention is to create fear and demoralisation," said Mr Singh, adding that protection for information technology and biotechnology companies would be stepped up with increased police patrols in the streets.
Authorities believe three men were involved in Wednesday's attack and suspect the involvement of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Kashmiri separatist group that carried out the Diwali bombings that killed 60 people in a busy New Delhi market two months ago.
According to one report, Delhi police arrested two Lashkar militants earlier this year from whom they learned the group was planning to move beyond familiar targets and hit well-known software companies.
Earlier this month, Bangalore saw furious protests following the rape and murder of a female call centre worker who was attacked by a man posing as a company driver. Protests spread around the country calling for better security for female employees in the call centre industry, which operates late at night to attend to clients in Europe and the US.