Jihadi outfits like Lashkar-e- Taiba are planning attacks in Odisha and Maharashtra besides making fresh recruitment efforts in the Northeast, Assam DGP Jayanta Narayan Choudhury said on Tuesday.
"Our intelligence inputs point to such attacks being planned. Among the targets are Puri where lakhs of pilgrims gather for events like the famous Ratha Yatra," he told the media.
"Besides there are strategic targets in Odisha like the missile launching range at Balasore. As for Maharashtra, Mumbai has always been a target due to its status as the commercial capital of the country," he said.
The DGP said the inputs had been shared with the central government. "Occasionally, we get such information and pass them on to central intelligence agencies because we cannot corroborate them from our own side," he said.
Feedback regarding recruitment efforts by the Islamic radical groups had also been received from local informers and state police intelligence. "The information has come from local agencies. The LeT and the HuM are trying to recruit youngsters in Assam," he said.
"Our reports also say that such recruitment efforts are also being made in Manipur and other Northeastern states. It seems the jihadi outfits are trying to spread their tentacles across the region," the DGP said.
There are already a number of Islamic militant groups in the Northeast, including the Muslim Liberation Tigers of Assam, but so far their reach has been limited among the youths of the region.