IPL was prime terror target: US think-tank

The Indian Premier League (IPL), which was shifted to South Africa earlier this week, was the prime target of a large-scale terrorist strike by Islamist militants, on the lines of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, a leading American think-tank said on Wednesday.

Matches scheduled to be played in in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were top on the terrorist hit-list, it said, and foreign players were prime targets.

“The Indian intelligence apparatus is thought to have warned the central government of a flood of specific threats against Indian and foreign cricket players,” said Stratfor.

Based on the intelligence information, Stratfor in its latest analysis said it received indications early on from Indian security sources that the IPL tournament was a  prime target for another large-scale Islamist militant operation following the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

“Warnings of specific threats against the players came from the governments of the states hosting matches, including Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

“Given that these two states respectively are home to the information technology hubs of Hyderabad and Bangalore - both of which have a heavy foreign presence - and are where multinational corporations doing business in India are concentrated, these states are at a particularly high risk of attack,” it said.