Terror alert: Delhi on guard

The Delhi Police on Saturday stepped up vigil in the backdrop of several countries — including the United States — issuing alerts about “imminent” terror strikes in the city. HT reports.

The Delhi Police on Saturday stepped up vigil in the backdrop of several countries — including the United States — issuing alerts about “imminent” terror strikes in the city.

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The Capital woke up to the threat of terror strikes in popular markets of south and central Delhi after intelligence agencies in India and the US reported that a terrorist module had been tasked to carry out attacks on Saturday. In the evening, security agencies asked people to be vigilant on Sunday too.

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"There was a very specific input for today. Information was that one terror outfit had been tasked to carry out an attack in a crowded market in Delhi,” a government official said.

The Indian intelligence input did not name the targeted markets. But a US embassy security advisory specified “Chandni Chowk, Connaught Place, Greater Kailash, Karol Bagh, Mehrauli and Sarojini Nagar”.

The UK and Australia too issued similar advisories to their citizens in India.

Australia “strongly advised” its citizens to avoid markets in Delhi while UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office asked citizens to be “particularly conscious” of security considerations in the vicinity of government installations and tourism sites.

"We seem to be looking at one end of the (same terror) chain… the US at the other,” a security official said.

Both appeared to have picked up the intelligence on the basis of electronic surveillance. Intelligence sources said it was not clear if the terror module, suspected to be linked to the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, had already entered the National Capital Region or not. But they pointed out that there had been inputs over the past month that a strike team would try to enter India through Bangladesh or Nepal.

Home ministry officials explained the repeated terror alerts to the security establishment’s approach after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack not to sit on inputs even as they try to get more specific details.