Mysuru: An Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has been set up in Mysuru, said City Police Commissioner K.T. Balakrishna.

In the light of the terrorist attack on CRPF Jawans in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, the Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) Neelamani N. Raju has issued directions to set up the squad.

Based on the DG&IGP’s directions, as a precautionary measure, an ATS has been set up in Mysuru City Police Commissionerate, he said.

The 12-member squad will be the headed by City Armed Reserve (CAR) ACP M.K. Nagaraju and Reserve Police Inspector (RPI) Ashok Kumar, the City Top Cop added.

Apart from this, at every Police Station level, there will be a Sub-Inspector or Assistant Sub-Inspector heading a two-member staff. They will be trained by experts on terrorist attacks, planning and related activities, said the Police Commissioner. “Intelligence gathering and operations will be the two important aspects of the ATS. Their job will also be to prevent terrorist attacks from occurring”, said Balakrishna.

Earlier, when Praveen Sood was the City Police Commissioner, the ATS was in place, when they arrested a few terrorists. Now, once again, after a gap of few years, a separate ATS has come into existence.

The ATS is also set up at Bengaluru, Belagavi, Mangaluru and Hubballi. All these days, at the State level, the Centre for Counter Terrorism attached to the ISD (Internal Security Division) was dealing with issues related to terrorism. At city and district levels, there was no exclusive staff for the job and other officers were given additional charge.

Inputs from Central Intelligence agencies about the probable terrorism related activities and presence of sleeper cells in the State have probably prompted the State Police to act swiftly in setting up the ATS, said sources in the Police Department.