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 17 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 two police officers .