Army warns of possible terror attack in South

Chennai: Indian Army's Southern Command has warned of a possible terror attack in the southern parts following discovery of boats abandoned at Sir Creek - a tidal estuary that divides Gujarat in India from Sind of Pakistan.

"We have inputs that there may be a terrorist attack in the southern part of India. Some abandoned boats have been recovered from Sir Creek. We're taking precautions to ensure that designs of inimical elements and terrorists are stalled," Lt Gen SK Saini, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Army Southern Command said.

Following the alert, security has been beefed up in the southern states, particularly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, considering that the two states have been high on the radar for the watchful monitoring of the national security agencies following the Easter blasts in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

“We are always in a state of alert and there is no need for panic”, TN Director General of Police JK Tripathy told DC, when asked about the Army alert.

Security has been tightened across the state already, particularly since August following intelligence inputs that terrorists of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba have infiltrated into the state for carrying out strikes.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been conducting searches in several parts of Tamil Nadu, particularly in Coimbatore, and arrested a number of suspects in the last few months.

The NIA believes there are sleeper cells of the Islamic State (IS) in the textile city and also some places down south, which have been engaged in radicalising and recruiting youth in a big way.

The Kerala DGP Loknath Behera has been quoted telling the media that an alert has been issued now to all the district police heads following the Army's warning of terror strike.

“Police across the state have been asked to maintain high vigil, particularly at public places”, he said, obviously referring to the heavy crowds expected at Onam celebrations in the state on Wednesday.