MUMBAI: Security was stepped up in India's financial capital Mumbai on Tuesday, after intelligence warnings of a possible militant attack targeting foreigners, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was scheduled to fly to Mumbai on Wednesday on the second leg of a two-day India visit.
“Extensive security measures have been put in place and an alert has been sounded in the city in the wake of inputs of a terror threat ahead of Christmas and the New Year,” PTI quoted Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal as saying.
“There are conscious efforts by terror organisations to target foreigners during these two festivals here,” Dayal said.
PTI cited quoted official sources as saying the intelligence had specifically mentioned possible infiltration by members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The western commercial city of Ahmedabad was also cited as a potential target and put on alert.
“We have been continuously receiving inputs from intelligence agencies about possible terror strikes. We are analysing these inputs and taking things very seriously,” Dayal said.
He added that security forces had already launched “house-to-house” searches in some specific areas, and extra security had been deployed around markets, religious sites and bus and railway stations.
The 2008 attacks by 10 militant gunmen targeted Mumbai's main railway station and a number of luxury hotels, killing 166 people.
Ahmedabad was the target of a series of 21 synchronised bomb blasts in 2008 that left more than 50 people dead.
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