Lashker e Taiba planning attacks in India: Intelligence agencies

NEW DELHI: Days after Lashker e Taiba commander and 26/11 attacks accused Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi walked free, Indian intelligence agencies have warned all states and union territories about LeT's plans to launch fresh attacks at hotels, railway stations and metro stations in key cities over the next couple of months.

The alert, issued on Sunday, is based on inputs passed on by railway authorities in Mumbai that LeT is planning a 26/11-type strike at hotels and railway stations in the city. The Mumbai alert had warned that around 8-10 terrorist may infiltrate through the sea route to execute the attack.

The IB has asked the states to beef up security outside hotels, particularly five-star properties, as well as at railway stations and metro stations, even as agencies in charge of coastal security also tighten vigil.

Latest assessment by the intelligence agencies state that Lakhvi's release has come as a major morale booster for LeT's rank and file, and may encourage them to launch yet another spectacular attack against India.



Lakhvi was released on Saturday after a court in Pakistan called his detention illegal. He was arrested in 2009, months after 166 people were killed by 10 gunmen in a three-day siege in Mumbai.

The LeT operations chief and six others in Pakistan have been charged for planning and executing the Mumbai attacks, but the case has made little progress in six years despite repeated appeals from India to bring the accused to book. On Monday, the Islamabad High Court ordered an anti-terror court to close the trial in two months.