Australian official cancels Mumbai trip over attack fears

MELBOURNE: An Australian state leader on Sunday cancelled a planned trip to Mumbai due to travel advice from Canberra that extremists were planning attacks in the city.

Victoria state premier John Brumby was scheduled to visit the city this week as part of a trip to assure Indians that Australia remains a safe place to study following a recent wave of assaults on Indian students in Melbourne.

But he said in a statement on Sunday that he had altered his itinerary after Australia's foreign affairs department on Friday issued a travel advisory warning about the possibility of attacks in Mumbai.

"Credible information indicates that terrorists may be planning further attacks in Mumbai, including at places frequented by tourists, in September or October 2009," the warning said.

An assault by 10 Islamist gunmen in Mumbai last November killed 166 people, including two Australians.

Brumby said he would spend more time in New Delhi, instead of travelling to Mumbai.

His visit comes after a spate of street violence against Indians in Australia's second largest city, the most recent when four men were seriously assaulted last weekend in a pub car park.

The attacks have cast a shadow over an education industry worth 15.5 billion dollars (13.4 billion US). About 95,000 Indians are studying in Australia after a university publicity blitz targeting the country's growing middle class.

Brumby said last week that Australia's image in India had been tarnished by the attacks and he wanted to send the message during his visit that Melbourne was one of the safest cities in the world to study in.