M A I N   N E W S

Maximum alert in Delhi

New Delhi, September 16
Security personnel in the Capital have been put on maximum alert as the USA plans to carry out retaliatory strikes on suspected hideouts of international terrorist Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and the Army has been put on high alert along the Line of Control and International Border in J & K and Punjab.

The Delhi police, paramilitary forces and all other security personnel have been directed to maintain high-level security around crowded public places and vital installations, including airports, railway stations and inter-state bus terminals (ISBTs). The step is being taken to prevent any mischief by anti-national elements or agents of the Saudi fugitive.

“We have directed security personnel to be on a high alert to prevent any untoward incident from taking place in the event of the USA carrying out the strikes in Afghanistan,’’ senior officials said today.

Intelligence inputs in the recent past have suggested that Bin Laden has been spreading his tentacles in India through various terrorist groups like the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Hizb-al-Islami, Harakat-ul-Jehad and Sipah-e-Sahaba.

Added to this, several hundred Afghanis are staying in the Capital after fleeing from their country, plagued by infighting among various factions.

Notwithstanding the elaborate security arrangements, the Capital has found itself vulnerable to terrorist strikes ever since the December 22 Red Fort attack last year and this is what is giving sleepless nights to the security forces.

The Army has been put on a high alert along the Line of Control and International Border in Jammu and Kashmir as also on Punjab frontier to thwart any attempt by militants to infiltrate into the country following reports that Pakistan has shut down its training camps. UNI, PTI