Bengaluru specific Anti Terror Squad to be in place from Nov 1

A Bengaluru specific Anti Terror Squad would come into being from November 1 in view of NIA's suspicion that some terrorist groups could be active in the city, Karnataka home minister S R Bommai said here on Tuesday.

"Taking serious note of NIA's suspicion that at least 20 to 22 terrorist groups could be active in Bengaluru, the Bengaluru specific ATS has been formed and it will come into being formally from November 1," Bommai told reporters here.

The decision to set up the ATS was made following the arrest of a number of Jamat-e-Mujahiddin Bangladesh (JMB) cadres in and around Bengaluru, from whom explosive devices and many other incriminating materials were found in the last one year, the NIA had said.

These terrorists, involved in the October 2, 2014 bomb blasts at Burdwan in West Bengal, in which two persons were killed, had holed up in and around this city, the agency said.

They had carried out training programmes in Krishnagiri hills and wanted to set up base here .