New Delhi, August 06: Ahead of Independence Day, Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba is planning to target three major cities including Delhi where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will unfurl the tricolour from the historic Red Fort, home ministry officials said.
Besides the national capital, other cities on LeT target are Kolkata and Hyderabad, a top home ministry official said.
Intelligence agencies have given specific inputs that LeT, responsible for innumerable terror strikes including 26/11 in Mumbai, is planning to target the three metros in the run-up to the Independence Day, the official said.
The Centre has already shared the information with the governments of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh besides informing Delhi Police for necessary action.
Searches and regular screening at all the exit and entry points of Delhi were being carried out to keep a strict watch on anti-national elements.
Security agencies had fanned informers in the walled city where Singh will unfurl the flag from the ramparts of 17th-century monument on August 15.
“The next 10 days are very crucial. We are taking all necessary steps to foil the designs of LeT to strike at the three cities,” the official said.
The intelligence input shared included an interrogation report of some recent catches of terrorists made along the LoC who claimed that they had been tasked to meet some of the terror cells in these cities to carry out attacks ahead of the Independence Day.
Security at important public places and vital installations, including Delhi Metro and railway stations, bus terminals and crowded marketplaces, have been tightened.
Electronic surveillance has been increased and extra security cover extended to all the religious places in the capital and air space been closed for traffic.
Besides this, patrolling by Sashastra Seema Bal and police personnel has been enhanced along the porous Indo-Nepal border to prevent Nepali Maoists from sneaking into Bihar and Jharkhand to aid any sinister designs.
–PTI