Security agencies on toes for Independence Day as threat inputs pour in

NEW DELHI: From hijacking of aircraft to suicide attacks by terrorists, including by human bombs, in the capital and other major cities -- central security agencies are getting "uncorroborated" inputs about many such possible threats ahead of Independence Day celebrations.

Most of these "unsubstantiated" inputs are coming from Assam, rocked by clashes between Bodos and immigrants that have claimed 77 lives so far, but the authorities are not leaving anything to chance.

Unlike in the past when Intelligence Bureau would wait to first corroborate such information, it has been decided by the Home Ministry that the organisation would circulate all the inputs among the states and other agencies irrespective of their authenticity as a precaution.

One such input from Guwahati has been about hijacking of an airplane by terrorists of Lashker-e-Taiba from northern part of the country recently but the central security agencies could not pinpoint its coordinates and it was based on a vague input from a 'source', officials said.

While the threat has been graded "negative" after checking its veracity through Jammu and Kashmir Police and Intelligence Bureau, the central security agencies, however, continue to receive more such inputs.

In the run up to Independence Day, another alert has been sent to a western coastal state warning of attack by terror groups who may have entered to carry out strikes, the officials said, adding, the concerned state government was given the "unsubstantiated" input.

In the national capital where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will unfurl the tricolour and address the nation from ramparts of the Red Fort, police have already started there usual drill of securing the areas, checking of lodges and maintaining a hawk-eye vigil along the entry and exit points of the Delhi.