India alert over glider and airline terror plots

Published on Saturday 23 January 2010 19:45

FEARS of an airline hijack or the launch of a glider attack by Islamist terrorists sparked a full-scale alert in India yesterday.

Officials in New Delhi said they had put air defences on the highest possible level of alert after warnings from intelligence agencies.

India remains extremely wary of terror threats since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people and raised tensions with its nuclear-armed neighbour Pakistan.

It is now braced for new threats ahead of its Republic Day holiday on Tuesday. Officials said the suggestion of a glider attack, by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, sounded far-fetched but said they would not be taking any risks.

A Home Ministry spokesman said: "We have alerted our civil aviation security people against a possible attempt to hijack an Indian airlines flight. This would obviously be from terrorist groups seeking to harm India's interests."

An Indian Air Force spokesman said: "We are on high alert, although use of sophisticated gliders by militants to carry out attacks seems unlikely."