Threat to city airport

Threat to city airport
BY BALA CHAUHAN
BENGALURU



The Intelligence Bureau warned on Tuesday that airports around the country could be the target of a fidayeen attack later this week, and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has issued a red alert from December 3 to 7 at four of them: New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

Security at airports and other major national installations is always stepped up around December 6, the anniversary of the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. This year, for the first time, Bengaluru International Airport is among the places where the threat level is considered high.

It is not clear whether an attack is expected at these airports from the ground level or from the air.

The alert comes in the wake of a terror email discovered in Ahmedabad on Sunday evening regarding a suicide strike at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. The mail was verified and found genuine by the intelligence agencies. This email threatened suicide attacks at the airports in Bengaluru, Chennai and Ahmedabad, in addition to New Delhi. All of them are now on the highest level of alert.

Highly-placed sources said the attack could be aimed at destroying aircraft and targeting passengers. “It is not specific to any airline. The information is that there are plans to attack aircraft and the airport and cause maximum damage,” an official said.

Sources said there were unconfirmed reports that some explosives might already have been sneaked into the city for the suicide attack with the help of local sleeper cells.