New Delhi, November 4
Two leading boarding schools and a few five-star hotels located at popular tourist destinations are on the target of Pakistan-based terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a senior Home Ministry official said here today.
According to intelligence inputs filtering in from the USA, the organisation plans to attack National Defence College located near South Block. The college runs courses on Indian and international strategic and warfare issues. At present, around 25 foreign officers are undertaking courses here.
The news comes in the wake of reports that David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, arrested by the FBI for plotting a major terror attack in India at the behest
of the LeT, had revealed that they were planning to attack National Defence College in New Delhi.
The Home Ministry official said the intelligence agencies had gathered information about the possibility of LeT attacks a few weeks ago and forwarded it to the state governments concerned for providing adequate security at schools and the hotels. The names of the schools were not
revealed to avoid a panic reaction. A major security drill was conducted at a leading five-star hotel in Delhi yesterday.
Meanwhile, additional security personnel have been deployed at the NDC located on the Tees-January Marg, where a memorial of Mahatma Gandhi is also located.
Earlier, on the sidelines of a CII function during the day, Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju said, “I think there is a constant review of the threat perception and targets ...and we are working on ensuring proper safeguards.”
