NEW DELHI: The government on Monday sounded a terror alert for three cities -- Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore -- after interrogation of Indian Mujahideen suspect Salman Ahmed.
The danger to these cities was highlighted by the TOI on Sunday.
According to official sources, home ministry has asked the governments of these states to be on the lookout for terror attacks. "We are not taking any chances on whatever information we have received. So, we have alerted the concerned state governments to take all necessary security measures immediately," a home ministry official said.
During his interrogation, Salman, who is suspected to be involved in serial blasts in Ahmedabad, Varanasi and Gorakhpur, confessed that Indian Mujahideen had set up bases in Karachi, Kathmandu, Dubai and a few places in Middle East under its so-called `Karachi Project'. Salman also confessed to the existence of the Karachi Project, which is a plan by Pakistan's ISI to train motivated Indians to attack targets in India, so as to create a degree of separation with Pakistan.
The home ministry official, who declined to be named, said Salman "confessed that IM cadres go to Pakistan either through Nepal or Bangladesh for training". Salman, for instance, had returned from Pakistan as recently as January, around the time that India asked Pakistan to return to bilateral dialogue.
In fact, security forces have arrested two IM terrorists who were residents of Uttar Pradesh and had come from Bangladesh. More arrests are likely in the coming days.
As TOI reported on Sunday, Salman, an active member of IM, was wanted for the serial blasts in Jaipur, Ahmedabad and other places and a reward of Rs 1 lakh was on offer for information leading to his capture. He disclosed that the masterminds of Karachi Project were keen on engineering serial bomb attacks in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The cells tasked with executing this plan had been instructed to target foreigners, he said.
Salman provided details of the training he received at an ISI-run facility in the Karachi region. Amir Raza Khan, convenor of the Karachi Project, and the Bhatkal brothers, Riyaz and Iqbal, were in charge. He saw other Indian youth there, who had travelled to Karachi via Dubai.
All of Salman's revelations tally with the statement of another IM jehadi recruited for the Karachi Project, Khawaja Amjad of Hyderabad. After he was arrested, Amjad told police that IM commanders in Karachi were under pressure from the ISI-Lashkar bosses to organise fresh terror attacks.
Salman was instructed to re-activate the IM cells which had gone dormant since the crackdown on the gang in 2008.
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