Click to play videoNew Delhi: It was a high security alert that turned out to be an exaggeration. A directive from the Airport Authortiy of India to Airports across the country warned of a possible 9/11 like suicide attack by six to seven trained militant pilots and 30 women in their twenties targetting election rallies of important leaders as well as sensitive installations.
The directive said that these waiting-to-strike fidayeen - mostly from Pakistan - have entered India through Bangladesh over the last few months.
"There have been inputs that during elections, terrorists may possibly target airports, so all airports are on high alert. The information was not meant to be issued to the media but sill got leaked. We want to clarify that this is not the only time these kind of information comes to us. These reports keep coming in and neccessary steps are taken and security is stepped up as and when situations arise," said an official.
The directive quoted a Bureau of Civil Aviation Security input but sources in the Intelligence Bureau rubbished the alert, and the Home Minster too called the threat exaggerated.
Sources say the input came from the Indian Embassy in Bangladesh about two months ago but the source of the input was termed 'unreliable'. However, by the time the input reached the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the word unreliable had somehow been overlooked.
Even though the advisory now stands cancelled, authorities are looking into possible lapses within the security establishment that might have been responsible for inflating an unreliable input into a terror threat.
(With inputs from Raheel Khursheed and Meetu jain in New Delhi)
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