Lashkar planning 26/11 style attack on Delhi ahead of CWG closing ceremony

LONDON - Pakistan based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba is planning to attack Delhi on Thursday during the build-up to the closing ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, according to Indian intelligence.

Security has been stepped up in Delhi and more than 1,000 extra police and soldiers were drafted on Tuesday because of the heightened threat. The entire city has been fortified with security personnel patrolling each nook and corner.

Officials said that new intelligence indicated that LeT, which was behind the attacks in Mumbai in 2008, were targeting attacks in the Indian capital while 64,000 people would be travelling to witness the closing of the Games.

The terror outfit, having links with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, is believed to already have some of its operatives in Delhi, the Daily Mail quoted officials, as saying.

A major concern is the Delhi Metro as the authorities have advised the majority of spectators to travel by the system or otherwise either by bus or to walk.

The details of LeT plot comes two days after the Indian Army seized 50kg of explosives being smuggled to Delhi which they said were to be used in attacks in the city.

Two consignments of explosives hidden in apple boxes placed among passenger luggage on buses heading to Delhi from Jammu and Kashmir were found by the Army’s intelligence wing.

Anti-terror investigators said they had arrested a militant belonging to the radical group Hizbul Mujahideen, which has been linked to the ISI, Pakistan’s premiere intelligence agency, the paper reports.

He is said to have confessed that the explosives had been supplied in the town of Doda bordering Pakistan and were to be used in attacks in Delhi as the Commonwealth Games build to their climax. (ANI)