Indian police in the southern state of Karnataka say they have foiled a terrorist plot to attack the state legislature building in the provincial capital of Bangalore. Authorities arrested two suspected terrorists after a shoot-out with police in another city early Thursday.
Authorities say the two suspected militants were carrying a laptop computer, a satellite telephone, an AK-47 assault rifle and one Pakistani passport. They also had the plans of the recently built state assembly building in Bangalore, India's information technology hub.
The two were arrested in Mysore, 140 kilometers southwest of Bangalore, after a shoot-out with the police there. Police Commissioner Pravin Sood immediately blamed the plot on Pakistani militants, some of whom he says are in prison.
"They have associates, but not here. They have associates in Pakistan, they have associates in jail. After all, everything is commanded from jail," said Sood.
India regularly accuses Pakistan of supporting Islamic militants who cross from Pakistan into India to carry out attacks. Islamabad regularly denies the charges.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this week said there was "credible" evidence that Pakistan-backed terrorists were behind the bombing of several commuter trains in Mumbai in July that killed more than 200 people.
Such terrorist acts often stem from the two nations' conflicting claims over the border region of Kashmir. In September, India and Pakistan agreed to share intelligence on cross-border terrorist activities.