Busted module's aim was to carry out assassinations

The newly-busted terror module which was allegedly planning a spate of assassinations in various parts of the country was inspired by Anwar Alwaki, the deceased leader of the Al Qaeda.

Investigations revealed that the terror group, whose suspected members have been arrested from across the country recently, was self motivated and had no direct links with any other group.

According to investigators, there new plan was to kill high profile personalities and cause communal tension in the country. They adopted assassinations instead of planting bombs, Bangalore City Police Commissioner Jyoti Prakash Mirji informed the media on Saturday.

While in Bangalore they were planning to kill journalists and a BJP leader, Prahlad Joshi; in Hyderabad they had planned on killing two corporators, the police revealed.

Further they were also targeting a prominent Hindu leader in Andhra Pradesh. However, the police are still ascertaining their targets in Maharashtra from where four persons were also arrested.

Mirji however rubbished reports of this module trying to carry out attacks on major installations. "Their operation was about assassinations. While they sought to take revenge on persons who were anti-Islamic, on the other hand they sought to trigger communal riots," he said.

"Currently we are focusing on collecting information on the handlers of the arrested, who are believed to be in Saudi Arabia, and collect information whether the group has a reach across the country. We are also focusing on busting their other modules," he added.

From those arrested in Karnataka, the police have recovered an Italian-made 7.65 mm pistol with seven cartridges, a dagger, 16 mobile phones, 8 SIM cards, 4 ATM cards, two laptops, pen drives and a bike. Besides, police have also found seven 'Jihadi' books.

The police have also found maps of Chennai, and even Iran, including some Urdu paper clippings.