Five prisoners - including an Islamic extremist who allegedly shot dead two police officers - have been killed as they tried to escape from a van taking them to court in southern India . Prisoner Syed Viqaruddin - who had links to a network of feared terrorist groups - is understood to have asked the police van to stop in a deserted area , claiming he needed a toilet break , while they were en route to a court in Hyderabad . But when the blue bus stopped at about 10am , another of the prisoners 'tried to snatch a rifle from a policeman and tried to escape ' , according to Anurag Sharma , the head of Telangana state police . Shoot out : The five suspects were killed this morning after allegedly trying to escape police custody . He added : 'The police first warned them to stop and surrender , and when they did not listen , police opened fire . ' The five men were all killed in the shooting , while just one of the 17 officers guarding the group was left with minor injuries . The incident came two days after a gun battle in the same state left two terror suspects and a police constable dead . India.com has named the four other men killed today as Syed Amjed , Izhar Khan , Mohammed Haneef and Mohammed Zakir - all of whom were said to be members of a terrorist group called Tehreek Ghalaba E Islam , according to OneIndia.com . The group is said to be funded by Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami - an extremist group banned in Bangladesh in 2005 , and which claimed responsibility for killing 17 people at Delhi courthouse in September 2011 . Viqaruddin - who is said to be their leader - has also been linked to the banned terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Toiba . Fatal : Just one of the 17 officers guarding the truck was hurt , and the bodies were later taken for autopsies . He had been in custody since his July 2010 arrest for allegedly carrying out a series of attacks against policemen - including the killing two policemen in Hyderabad , as well as triggering two bomb blasts in the southern high-tech city . OneIndia.com also reports him as having bragged of plans to assassinate Narendra Modi , who was then the Gujurat chief minister . However , he is said to have abandoned the plot at the last minute when he realised 'there was too much security in the area ' .
The van had stopped after Syed Viqaruddin asked for a toilet break . Once stopped , another prisoner tried to take a gun off one of the officers . A scuffle ensued and the two policemen guarding the group opened fire . The prisoners - thought to be part of the same terrorist group - all died . Leader Viqaruddin is alleged to have killed 17 police officers .