UP ATS corners Ujjain train blast terror suspect in Lucknow, encounter on

Lucknow: Hours before the penultimate phase of polling in the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, a suspected terrorist on Tuesday was cornered in the thickly-populated Thakurganj area of Lucknow.

The man refused to surrender to the police and the operation at the Haji colony is underway.

According to PTI, the suspect is linked to a blast in the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train near Jabdi station in Shajapur.

"We were informed that few suspects were lodged in Kanpur and Lucknow. The police and senior officials of the ATS went in the search. The suspect who was found in Kanpur has been arrested. The second suspect has holed himself up in a house in the Thakurganj area of Lucknow. The operation is still on to get him out of the house," Additional Director General (ADG) of Police of Uttar Pradesh Daljeet Choudhary told ANI.

"We believe this man is a resident of Lucknow. The tip-off that we received came from outside the state. We also suspect him of possessing weapons. We will try our best to bring this operation to its logical end as soon as possible," he added.

ADG Choudhary also said that they only suspect the presence of just one inside the house. The suspect, said to have fired shots at security forces, has holed himself up in a house.

"We have been working on the tip-off, but, as far as the linkages and modules are concerned, the details can only be revealed once we get hold of the person. For now, we suspect the presence of just one in the building," ADG Choudhary said.

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) commandoes are trying to catch the person alive.

“In order to arrest him alive, we used chilli bombs but he has not come out yet. He is firing intermittently,”ANI quoted IG ATS as saying.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh's IG Law & order Makrand Devaskar has confirmed that Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train explosion that took place on Tuesday was a terrorist attack. At least eight people were injured in the attack.