Two terrorists were arrested after an encounter with the police in Puttur town, located near the Tamil Nadu border, in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
The operation, which started with a 60-member Tamil Nadu police team surrounding a house near Puttur railway station in the wee hours of Saturday, continued for 11 hours. The operation to nab the terrorists intensified after Andhra Pradesh police and 30 commandos of the anti-terrorist Octopus force joined their Tamil Nadu counterparts.
Two suspected terrorists, Malik Bilal and Ismail alias Munna, were arrested when the encounter ended on Saturday afternoon.
Tamil Nadu police suspect that these terrorists played a role in the killing of Auditor Ramesh, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, in Salem district in July.
Tension had gripped Puttur after a team of Tamil Nadu police raided a house after receiving a tip-off about terrorists hiding there.
According to preliminary reports, the assailants targeted the policemen with guns and sharp weapons.
Rao said that a 30-member squad of the anti-terrorist Octopus Force had been sent to the scene.
A 60-member team of Tamil Nadu police had raided the house in Medara Vidhi area of Puttur late on Friday.
Chittoor district police chief Kanti Rana and senior officials of Tamil Nadu police had also reached the scene.
According to the local people, four people, who claimed to be working in the beedi manufacturing industry, had taken the house on rent a few months ago. Locals said that they had no information about these people as they only came back home late in the night.
Reports about the presence of suspected terrorists has left the Andhra Pradesh police top brass worried as the world famous Tirumala temple is known to be on the top of their hit list. Puttur is merely 35 km away from Tirupati and Tirumala.
Meanwhile, normal life has come to a standstill in Tirupati and the flow of pilgrims to the Lord Venkateshwara temple has reduced drastically due to the strong anti-Telangana protestors that have rocked the region.
Vicky Nanjappa adds: Police teams from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have busted a major group of terror outfit Al-Ummah.
Earlier, the police had managed to nab one Fakruddin, who passed on information that members of the Al-Ummah were holed up in a house at Puttur.
Fakruddin had supplied material for the blast near the BJP's office in Bangalore in April.
Police suspect that this very group was responsible for the bomb blast during L K Advani's political rally in the state.
The police official who was killed during the encounter was stabbed to death by the terrorists.
Image used for representational purposes only
