The Union home ministry has issued an alert to the Mumbai police and Orissa government of a possible terror attack by Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) modules in the next few weeks.
Disclosing that the home ministry alert was based on inputs originating from the Assam police, authoritative security sources told this newspaper that LeT may target Jagannath rath yatra, which began in Puri, Orissa, on Thursday.
Informing that intelligence input has already been shared with the Orissa police, security sources, however, claimed that the police has made elaborate security arrangements to avoid any possible attack by LeT men.
The alert, which was circulated to the state police forces, have also warned off a possible LeT attack on Mumbai. Though, specific details of the LeT offensive was not known, security agencies have started working to identify the possible target of the LeT men.
Claiming that the alert was based on human intelligence, security sources pointed out that a number of Assamese youth are being recruited by the LeT since 2001 to carry out terror strikes.
Admitting that number of such recruits may not be large, security sources, however, felt that the trend was worrying.
Sources also pointed out that some of the LeT modules, who are suspected to have been using Northeast as their shelter, are also found to have been using porous border with Bangladesh for maintaining their connections across the border.
The agencies are of view that Let was not targeting Assam for strategic reason but was using geographical advantages to execute their subversive plans in other parts of country. Agencies have asked the Mumbai police to intensify policing in vulnerable areas of the city.