India put its security on high-alert following intelligence reports of two possible assaults from the air, one from a plane hijacking, the other from paragliders. Officials said the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind both threats. The group was responsible for the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai which left more than 160 people dead.Rico says he'd normally ignore this wog-on-wog behavior, but with one or more of the countries affected now having The Bomb, one must worry about everything... (But won't a terrorist attack using fifty paragliders make for some incredible YouTube videos?)
"We have intelligence reports that LeT has purchased fifty paragliding kits from Europe with an intention to launch attacks on India," said U.K. Bansal, an official at the home ministry, which is in charge of internal security. No other details were available.
Earlier in the day, the home ministry issued a security alert to all airports and airlines following an intelligence notification that some terror groups were plotting to hijack a plane. "We (home ministry) have reliable information of a planned plane hijack by terrorists. We have advised the civil aviation ministry to take necessary steps," Omkar Kedia, a home ministry spokesman said. Indian airports were put on high alert and security tightened following the warning. Sky marshals were deployed on certain flights and passengers were being subject to intense security screening, he said.
India celebrates one of its biggest holidays of the year, Republic Day, on Tuesday. Indian news agency Press Trust of India said that, according to intelligence reports, terror groups linked to al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba were planning to hijack an Air India or Indian Airlines plane flying in or from SAARC countries - Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
"Following the home ministry input, the civil aviation ministry has issued a hijack alert," said Moushmi Chakraborty, press officer at the Indian Civil Aviation Ministry Friday. A statement issued by the civil aviation ministry said anti-hijacking measures had been upgraded, which included deployment of sky marshals on certain flights and introduction of ladder point checking for the safety of passengers. The Central Industrial Security Force, responsible for security at airports across the country, is keeping a closer vigil on passengers at the security hold area, especially those travelling with the national carriers.
The alert comes two days after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, traveling in the region, warned of possible strike by al-Qaeda and its affiliates to destabilize South Asia and trigger war between India and Pakistan.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they became independent nations in 1947. In December 1999, Islamic militants hijacked an Air India flight from Nepal's capital, Katmandu, to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. It ended when New Delhi released three Islamic terrorists in exchange for 167 passengers and crew.
22 January 2010
Hijack is now an Indian word
The Wall Street Journal has an article by Vibhuti Agarwal about Lashkar-e-Taiba:
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