The Delhi Police on Monday arrested five people, some of whom are suspected to have links with terrorist organisations, following a shootout in East Delhi, PTI reported. Two of those arrested are from Punjab, while the others belong to Kashmir.

“We have apprehended five persons after an exchange of fire,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said. “Weapons and other incriminating material have also been recovered from their possession.”

Kushwah added that some of them were suspected to have links with terror groups, but further investigation into the matter was underway.

The two accused from Punjab are suspected to be members of the Babbar Khalsa International, a banned separatist outfit, while those from Kashmir were working as middlemen, the police said, reported The Indian Express.

The suspected militants from Punjab are associates of gangster Sukhmeet Singh, alias Sukh Bhikhariwal, the police said. They were allegedly involved in the killing of Comrade Balwinder Singh, a former Communist Party of India (Marxist) member. Singh, a Shaurya Chakra awardee, had taken on militants at the height of the insurgency in Punjab in the 1990s. He was killed on October 16 in Punjab’s Bhikhiwind by two unidentified bikers.

“They were working on the directions of Khalistan movement leaders sponsored by Pakistan’s ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence],” an unidentified police official told the newspaper. The police added that the accused were also planning targeted killings in various states of north India.

A team of New Delhi Range was tracking the movement of the five men for the past two-three months. They came to know on Sunday that the five men would be coming to Delhi. “Acting on this information, a trap was laid and they were arrested after 13 rounds of firing,” the officer said. “The firing took place at around 7 am. They were later taken to Lodhi Colony for further questioning.”