Massive hunt for gunman who killed Indian professor

NEW DELHI, Friday (AFP) An attack on an international science conference in southern India in which a professor was killed and four delegates wounded was likely the work of terrorists, police said.

A gunman sprayed bullets at delegates to an infrastructure management conference in the technology hub of Bangalore as their meeting was ending Wednesday night and they were were leaving for dinner.

Although only one person opened fire before fleeing, police said the attacker may have had accomplices.

Officers found one Ak-47 automatic rifle, a live grenade and 11 empty cartridges near the auditorium at the Indian Institute of Science where around 300 scientists had been attending the conference.

"Though it is a bit early to confirm the nature of the shootout, evidence collected so far from the scene...has all the markings of a terror attack," said B. S. Sial, director general of police in Karnataka state, of which Bangalore is the capital. "We don't rule out the possibility of any militant or terror outfit behind the shootout," he added. Security in Bangalore was drastically tightened as police launched a massive hunt for those behind the attack which killed M.C. Puri, a professor of mathematics at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.

Entry and exit points to the city were sealed while police brought in sniffer dogs and stepped up foot patrols, officials said.

"We are also keeping a track of all mobile and (fixed-line) phone calls being made or received throughout the state," said Sial.

"Several hotels and lodges are being searched for the suspects and collecting information," he added.

Political leaders and police chiefs from Karnataka were meeting to review security in the city, state officials said.

Meanwhile police and a top officials said the attack on a science conference in southern India in which a professor was killed and four delegates wounded was likely the work of a terrorist group.

"Preliminary investigations by the city police and vital clues available so far indicate that it was a terror attack," said Dharam Singh, chief minister of Karnataka state of which Bangalore is the capital.

Singh said a pro-Pakistan outfit fighting Indian rule in divided Kashmir may have carried out the attack but conceded police had yet to identify the culprits.

"Terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba appear to be behind the attack," Singh said, referring to a hardline Islamic group that was also blamed by New Delhi for a deadly attack on its parliament in December 2001. "The motive appears to create panic or fear psychosis in a city like Bangalore, which has gained a global reputation as the nerve centre of IT, defence, science and space activities," Singh said.

Police too said it appeared to have been an attack by militants.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting. The Indian media said police were investigating possible links to militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.

"It was like crackers exploding. Suddenly I saw one man falling. He said, 'I have been shot. Call an ambulance'.

That's when I realised that some firing was happening," said A.N. Sukumaran, a security supervisor.

The intruder escaped under the cover of darkness.