Armed police launched an intense manhunt across the Indian capital Saturday for two suspected Islamic militants who escaped a dramatic gunbattle in which two militants and a police officer died. The two militants killed during Friday's shootout in a Muslim area of New Delhi included the leader of a shadowy group responsible for a series of deadly bomb attacks including ones in the city a week ago, officials said. The hour-long gunbattle erupted around an apartment in Jamia Nagar, in the south of the capital, when police acting on a tip-off discovered a group of around five armed men holed up in a building in a maze of narrow streets. Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma later died in hospital after succumbing to three gunshot wounds, police commissioner Y.S. Dadhwal said. He said one of the dead militants was Indian Mujahideen leader "Atif alias Bashir" who was "linked with the blasts all over the country."