Lucknow: The Anti-Terrorism Squad of Uttar Pradesh Police was engaged in an encounter with a suspected ISIS terrorist, accused in the Madhya Pradesh train blast, in Thakurganj area of the state capital today.

Additional Director General of Police Law and Order Daljeet Choudhury told reporters here that the terrorist was still firing and the security personnel were trying to arrest him.

"We are suspecting presence of only one suspect inside the building and the input came in from outside the state.

The suspect inside the building is possibly from Lucknow," the ADG said, adding that earlier in the day one suspect was arrested from Kanpur, while the second one was hiding inside a building at Thakurganj.

The sleuths of ATS have gheraoed a house in Haji locality at Thakurganj area of the state capital, where the terrorist was hiding.

CCTV footage near the place where the explosion took place on a train in Madhya Pradesh helped the police there to identify suspects. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said the explosion on the train running between Ujjain and Bhopal was a terror attack, as per initial investigation.

The Madhya Pradesh police said that interrogation of the three men it arrested helped with information about the two other men who were allegedly involved in the train blast, and they then shared the information with central agencies as well as the Uttar Pradesh police.

The Lucknow neighbourhood of Thakurganj, which is residential, has been cordoned off and at least 20 commandos are involved in the operation, said police sources. "The suspect came from outside the state," said Mr Chaudhary, adding that the terror suspect "has refused to surrender."

According to locals, at around 3.30 pm, over 30 policemen started vacating the houses in the locality to corner the suspect.

Aseem Arun, a senior office of the Anti-Terror Squad handling the operation in Lucknow, said "We are not in a hurry to finish the operation, but want to catch him alive."

Credit: The Emerging Word