HYDERABAD, India — Authorities in southern India said they killed five prisoners, including one accused of terrorism, when the men tried to escape from a police van Tuesday.
Police were transferring the prisoners from Warangal city to a court in Hyderabad when Syed Viqaruddin, an accused Islamic extremist, asked that the vehicle stop in a deserted area for a bathroom break.
When the vehicle stopped, another prisoner “tried to snatch a rifle from a policeman and tried to escape,” said Anurag Sharma, the head of Telangana state police. “The police first warned them to stop and surrender, and when they did not listen, police opened fire.”
One officer was injured in the escape attempt, which happened two days after a gunbattle in the same state left two terror suspects and a police constable dead.
Viqaruddin, who police said was part of the banned terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, had been in custody since his July 2010 arrest in a series of attacks against policemen. He was accused of killing two policemen in Hyderabad and triggering two bomb blasts in the southern high-tech city.