| "Who was that masked and beturbanned man?" |
Mumbai police have placed the city on high alert after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation informed Indian intelligence agencies of the possibility of a terrorist strike by a human bomb. The human bomb is suspected to be either an intruder from Nepal linked to an international militant outfit or one of the usual suspects a member of al-Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Taiba. According to the Code Orange alert issued by the FBI late last week, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore could be the target of terrorist attacks within 72 hours starting Sunday, August 1. A lone terrorist may target either vital strategic installations or VIPs in the city, the alert says.
President APJ Abdul Kalam cancelled his scheduled visit to Mumbai on Sunday in the wake of this information. Kalam was to attend three functions on Sunday morning, at the Taj, the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chowpatty, and then at Vikhroli. "We received the intelligence input late on Saturday night, and the next morning, there was a message from Mantralaya saying the President's visit had been cancelled," a senior police official who did not wish to be named said.
Additional commissioner of police Bipin Bihari of Special Branch-I, the intelligence-gathering arm of Mumbai police, confirmed the terrorist threat but denied any knowledge of intruders. Police have beefed up security arrangements at vital installations and even asked the fire brigade to be ready. "We were informed by the police about human bombs in the city and told to stay extra-vigilant round the clock," a fire brigade official said. Police commissioner A N Roy, however, denied any terrorist alert. "We are alert because Independence Day is round the corner. We have revised security arrangements and alerted our men, as is routinely done," he said.
| "I don't know, but he left me this silver truckload of explosives!" |
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