GUNNING FOR TROUBLE-MAKERS: A south Mumbai star hotel is the target
Mateen Hafeez | TNN
Mumbai: It’s a deadly cocktail of Pakistan’s banned outfits, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, and India’s outlawed organization, Indian Mujahideen (IM). Security agencies have learnt that the outfits are working together, and have apparently dispatched a seven-member team to carry out a 26/11-like terror strike in a south Mumbai five-star hotel.
Security has been beefed up not only at the hotel, but several other terror targets, “where David Headley did a reconnaissance” while laying the groundwork for the November 26, 2008, attack. The conspiracy to carry out a fresh terror strike in Mumbai was hatched in Kashmir. “It seems an IM representative was present at the meeting, which was attended by top LeT and Harkatul-Mujahideen militants. The terrorists were selected, and later dispatched to Mumbai to execute the plot,” a source said.
It’s not known whether the team has arrived in Mumbai, said officials. Equally worrying is the information that the three organizations are working together. The intelligence has been shared with the city police, crime branch, ATS and other security agencies in the state.
Police deployed in large numbers
Mumbai: The police have been deployed in huge numbers across Mumbai after security agencies were warned that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Indian Mujahideen (IM) are working together to launch a terror strike in the city. “This is really shocking,” said a senior officer, adding that the police has stepped up security in and around the five-star hotel and several other places.
“A group of seven trained terrorists has been dispatched to target a five-star hotel attacked earlier. We don’t have much information about the seven militants but have tightened the security to tackle any crisis-like situation,” said an official, adding that no specific information on the group is known.
Nakabandis have been increased across the city, and policemen in huge numbers have also been deployed outside possible ‘targets’ like the University of Mumbai campus in south Mumbai, the Mumbai Port Trust headquarters and BARC. “We have increased the number of security personnel at all the places surveyed by US national David Headley,” an official said. A former CIA agent, Headley defected to LeT and did the reconnaissance on its behalf. The intelligence has come just days before the second anniversary of 26/11.
The Times of India, November 21, 2010
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