Police stepped up security on information that political leaders, monuments and vital infrastructure were at risk of terrorist attacks ahead of Independence Day next week.
NEW DELHI: Police stepped up security on information that political leaders, monuments and vital infrastructure were at risk of terrorist attacks ahead of Independence Day next week.
Ajay Chaddha, special commissioner of police in the capital, told a news conference around 10,000 police officers would be deployed for the anniversary of India's independence from British colonial rule on Aug. 15.
"Intelligence inputs received in the recent past have indicated renewed determination of various terrorist outfits to undertake terrorist acts, target prominent political leaders and symbols of national importance," Chaddha said.
"Recent incidents of blasts in Mumbai as well as the reported failed attempt by terrorists to simultaneously plant explosives in aeroplanes in the U.K. give credence to the intelligence reports," he added.
The statement comes a day after the U.S. embassy in India warned American citizens of possible attacks by al Qaeda in and around New Delhi and the country's financial hub, Mumbai.
India's national security advisor, M.K. Narayanan told a local television channel that Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group long active in Indian Kashmir, was linked to the al Qaeda network.
"I would presume that when the Americans said al Qaeda, they were talking of Lashkar-e-Taiba," he told NDTV.
"Lashkar is a very important part of the al Qaeda". Police said elaborate security arrangements have been made in and around installations such as parliament house, the international airport, railway and metro stations, as well as crowded market areas, cinemas and religious buildings.
Security has also been heightened at tourist sites in other parts of the country including at the Taj Mahal, 200-km (125-miles) south of the capital.
Independence celebrations have been marred in the past by attacks by Islamist militants fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir as well insurgent groups in the troubled northeast.
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