Indian police battled suspected Islamic militants holed up in a New Delhi safe house Friday, killing two, including a man believed to have played a major role in bombings that ripped through India's capital this past weekend, officials said.
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The suspect - identified only as Atif - is also believed to have taken a lead role in plotting blasts that hit three other cities in the past year, killing scores of people in what authorities say were attempts to provoke violence between India's Hindu majority and Muslim minority.
New Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal told reporters that police, acting on a tip, raided the safe house in a southern part of sprawling New Delhi in hopes of catching those behind the bombings.
The officers arrived around 11 a.m. and killed two of the militants in the ensuing gunbattle. Another was arrested and two managed to escape, he said, adding that five people were also detained for sheltering the militants.
Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said two policemen were wounded in the fighting.
"A sizable amount of arms and ammunition was discovered in the house," he said. "The area has been cordoned off, and we are continuing our investigation."
Soon after the gunbattle broke out, scores of police officers, many in riot gear, could be seen fanning out through Jamia Nagar, the leafy lower middle-class neighborhood of three- and four-story cement buildings where the fighting took place. The scene was chaotic, with authorities trying to get civilians out of harm's way while subduing the militants.
The gunbattle put the city back on edge days after five coordinated market bombings killed 21 people - attacks credited to homegrown Islamic militants. Security was further stepped up at the city's markets with police opening the trunks of cars before letting them park.
A group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the New Delhi attacks. It also said it was behind bombings that killed 61 people in the western city of Jaipur in May and July blasts in the western state of Gujarat that killed at least 45.
Dadwal, the police commissioner, dismissed earlier reports that authorities were led to the safe house by a man arrested in connection with the Gujarat blasts. He did not offer any details on how the police found out about the safe house.
India's security forces have come under harsh criticism for failing to stop the bombings, which have been hitting Indian cities every few months for three years now.
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