US embassy warns of terrorist attacks in India

By Y.P. Rajesh

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The U.S. embassy in India warned
American citizens on Friday of likely terrorist attacks,
possibly by al Qaeda, in or around New Delhi and Mumbai in the
run-up to the country’s Independence Day celebrations next
week.

The warning came a day after British police said they
foiled a major plot to attack transatlantic airliners, and
exactly a month after Mumbai, India’s commercial hub, was hit
by a series of bomb blasts which killed 186 people and wounded
hundreds more.

“We have urged U.S. citizens to keep a low profile, be
alert and attentive to their surroundings,” an embassy
spokesman said.

“The embassy has learned that foreign terrorists, possibly
including members of al Qaeda, allegedly intend to carry out a
series of attacks,” he said, adding the attacks might occur in
or around New Delhi and Mumbai.

The information was gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies
and the embassy was working closely with the Indian government,
he added.

“Likely targets include major airports, key central Indian
government offices, and major gathering places such as hotels
and markets,” he added.

India celebrates the anniversary of independence from
British colonial rule on August 15 and security has already
been stepped up in the capital as well as other major cities.

The festivities have been marred in the past by attacks by
Islamist militants fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir as
well as insurgent groups in the country’s troubled northeast.

SUSPECTED MILITANTS ARRESTED

Security at all 55 airports across the country had already
been tightened after the arrests in Britain and hand baggage
was not being allowed on certain flights to the West.

An Indian home ministry official said New Delhi was working
with U.S. agencies over the terror alert. But officials at
several other foreign missions, including the British and the
German, said they were not aware of any specific threat.

“Indian agencies have also warned of an attack on vital
installations and government offices, airports, railways,” a
senior home ministry official told Reuters.

“All our agencies are on alert,” he added.

Police in the Indian capital said they had arrested two men
they said were members of Pakistan-based Islamist group
Lashkar-e-Taiba late on Thursday from New Delhi’s main railway
station after they arrived from Kashmir.

“They were carrying some RDX explosives and weapons. We
suspect they planned an attack during Independence Day
celebrations,” a Delhi Police spokesman said.

Lashkar has been blamed for several deadly attacks in
Kashmir and elsewhere across India in the past, including
serial bomb blasts in Delhi last year and the Mumbai train
bombings.

Officials in Mumbai said they were taking the U.S. warnings
very seriously.

“We are stepping up security at the U.S. consulate in
Mumbai as well as at the airport and other major
installations,” said D.K. Sankaran, the most senior bureaucrat
of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital.

“This warning as well as other factors such as what
happened in Britain yesterday and the run-up to Independence
Day is making us take this all very seriously,” he told
Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Palash Kumar, Kamil Zaheer and
Nita Bhalla in New Delhi and Krittivas Mukherjee in Mumbai)