New Delhi, Feb 21 (.) The national capital was placed on high alert on Saturday after intelligence inputs warned of a possible terror plot by Pakistan-based outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) targeting crowded religious and heritage locations in Delhi.
Sources indicated that intelligance inpurs indicate that a temple in the Chandni Chowk locality is among possible targets. Militants are also believed to be considering the use of an improvised explosive device in other high-security areas, including locations in the vicinity of the Red Fort.
In response to the alert, security has been significantly tightened across temples in the Chandni Chowk area, with paramilitary forces deployed to ensure continuous monitoring and heightened vigilance.
The stepped-up measures come several months after a devastating car bomb explosion shook the Red Fort vicinity in November last year. The blast, caused by an explosives-packed Hyundai i20 near the Red Fort Metro Station, claimed at least 12 lives and left more than 20 people injured, besides torching several nearby vehicles. Investigators subsequently revealed that the device contained ammonium nitrate-based explosives.
Authorities later identified the driver of the vehicle as Umar Mohammad, also known as Umar Un Nabi, a medical professional linked to Al-Falah University in Faridabad.
Sources indicated that investigators are also examining whether LeT’s move may have been motivated by the terror outfit’s desire to replicate a terror attack at a mosque in Islamabad by the Islamic State group, earlier this month.
On February 6th, a suicide blast at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque in the Tarlai area of Islamabad left 32 people dead and more than 160 injured. Deemed to be one of the deadliest attacks in the country’s capital, the Islamic State group (IS) had claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Condemning the attack, India, through its Ministry of External Affairs, had issued a statement saying, “The bombing at an Islamabad Mosque is condemnable and India condoles the loss of life it has caused. It is unfortunate that, instead of seriously addressing the problems plaguing its social fabric, Pakistan should choose to delude itself by blaming others for its home-grown ills. India rejects any and every such allegation, which is as baseless as it is pointless.”
. PWS JRC
