AYODHYA SHAKES WITH MILITANT ATTACK

By Udit Khanna

Six terrorists today made an abortive attempt to storm the high-security Ram Janmabhoomi complex in Ayodhya. All six of them were shot dead in a one and a-half hour encounter with the security forces guarding the complex.There has been no damage to the make-shift shrine at the religious site.The attackers had hired a taxi on the pretext of doing sight seeing around Ayodhya.

Once in the car, they forced the driver away from the wheel and took control.Breaching the wallOn reaching the temple complex, they set off a jeep loaded with the explosives to blast a hole through the boundary wall and made their way inside. They opened indiscriminate fire from AK 47 and AK 56 rifles, but were stopped at the Sita Rasoi, outside the periphery of the disputed site. Security forces engaged the militants in a gunbattle, at the end of which all six militants were killed."After the blast, there was an opening through which the terrorists entered. That is when the CRPF got alert and retaliated," said Jyoti Kumar Sinha, director general, CRPF. One unidentified person was killed in the crossfire while three security personnel were injured. The driver of the vehicle that was hired by the attackers has been detained for questioning. He told the police that the militants had hired his vehicle for Rs 1,300 from Lucknow but he was not aware of their motive.

Cabinet meet Later the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil briefed the Union Cabinet on the terrorist attack in Ayodhya. Intelligence reports so far indicate that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) could be behind the attack.In view of the incident, a red alert has been sounded in state capitals across the country.This is the first terrorist attack on the disputed complex, since the makeshift temple came up after the demolition of Babri masjid in December 1992.

Prior informationHome Secretary Vinod Duggal has said that there was prior information that religious sites could be targetted and the information had been passed to all states. "The information had come in late May. Subsequent to that, I had a meeting with the DG, CRPF and with the chiefs of central security forces that militants would be targeting some religious place and some military installations," Duggal said at a press conference."So we had to be alert. That input had come in from intelligence agencies. Such alertness is what helps in countering attacks like these."