PTI

Hubli, Feb 4: A suspected militant arrested last month has told police that he was to carry out bomb blasts in 11 places in Karnataka and Goa, including IT campuses and the ISKCON temple.

But he added that he could not do so as RDX from Pakistan failed to reach him.

Mohammed Asif, an MBBS student of Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences was among three suspected militants arrested last month from Hubli and Davanagere.

He told the interrogators that he could not translate his terror plans into action as he could not get 50 kg of RDX from Pakistan, police said.

The places identified by Asif in Hubli for bomb attacks included Siddaroodha Mutt, railway station, ISKCON temple, airport, besides IT establishments.

Asif also admitted during questioning that he had identified five places in Goa for terror attacks, police said.

Hubli: Second Terror Camp Unearthed in Karnataka

Manu Aiyappa/TNN

Hubli, Feb 4: Ominous signals are emanating from the jungles of Karnataka. Investigation into the unearthing of a terrorist training camp in Dharwad has led to more disturbing evidence: the location of another abandoned terrorist training centre, this time, deep inside the forest of neighbouring Uttara Kannada district.

Sources in the anti-terrorist cell said the camp was located in the midst of dilapidated temples belonging to the period of Chalukyas.

Going by the evidence they collected, an investigating officer said that the abandoned camp could be the first location of Riyazuddin Nasir alias Mohammed Ghouse and his accomplice, arrested recently. He said this could be the place where Ghouse worked on the elaborate recruitment process of jihadis.

According to the officer, the camp inside the jungle, which is roughly 5 miles from the Dharwad-Karwar highway, is hidden in a cluster of gigantic teak trees. After a closer look at the walls of the dilapidated shrines, the policemen found slogans written in Arabic.

The officer said some locals told him that a year ago, a group of students frequently made weekend trips to the woods and held "classes". But they stopped it when some residents objected suspecting them to be indulging in illegal activities.

He said Ghouse and his aides admitted that they visited the place but denied they had indulged in terrorist activities.

The officers, however, suspect that Ghouse and his accomplice identified the "most able", particularly from professional colleges, invited them to weekend trips that involve trekking and water rafting.

This, they did to identify those that are especially aggressive or have leadership qualities to conduct their terror campaign. Eventually, this process led to terrorist training camps in Pakistan, as it was in the case of Ghouse.

He told police that two of his associates studying in KIMS had gone missing soon after his arrest.

Police claimed Asif had been funded by the Islamic Development Council.

The two other suspected militants, Riyazuddin Nasir and Asadullah Abubakkar, were brought to Hubli on Sunday and handed over to the city Crime Branch for further questioning.

The trio are expected to be subjected to narco-analysis test at Bangalore on Monday.