New Delhi: Indian Navy Chief Adm. Sunil Lanba warned Tuesday of a 26/11-type terrorist attack through the sea route.
“We also have reports of terrorists being trained to carry out attacks with varying modus operandi, including through the medium of the sea,” the Navy Chief said.
He said India faces a far more serious version of state-sponsored terrorism.
“You have all witnessed the horrific scale of the extremist attack in Jammu and Kashmir just three weeks ago. This violence was perpetrated by extremists aided and abetted by a state which seeks to destabilise India,” he said.
The 26/11 attack was carried out by 10 seaborne terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba who had hijacked an Indian fishing trawler to reach Mumbai and unleash mayhem. Even in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, which killed over 250 people, more than 3,000 kg RDX for the blasts is said to have come through sea route, in dhows. It was offloaded at coastal villages in Maharashtra and then transported by road to warehouses in Mumbai and its suburbs.
The terrorists involved in 26/11 entered Indian waters on a Pakistani boat Al Husain, and later forcibly entered the Indian trawler M.V. Kuber. The militants then beheaded the navigator of the Indian fishing trawler, Amarsingh Solanki.
There have been reports that the Jaish-e-Mohammed had trained its terrorists in sea operations.
“We have seen how quickly terrorist groups evolve across the globe and this particular ‘brand’ of terror may well become a global problem in the near future. The Indian security establishment is continuously working to address this menace,” said the Navy Chief.
He said it was imperative that the global community acts in concert to contain and eliminate terrorism, in all its forms.
Meanwhile, a drone was sighted flying over the INS Adyar campus in Chennai around 9pm on Monday, police said.
The Navy on Tuesday filed a complaint with the police seeking an investigation into the incident. “An investigation is on,” the police said without divulging further information.
The incident comes at a time when key installations across the country, are on high alert following the recent Pulwama terror attack.
