India boosts security after attack warning: report

Posted 07 16 2009 9:35PM

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India tightened security in its commercial capital Mumbai and the southern city of Chennai after intelligence reports said Islamist militants were planning attacks there, a report said Wednesday.

Intelligence said militants planned attacks over four days in July and August and had targeted Chennai railway station in a copycat of last year's assault on Mumbai, when a train station was hit, Press Trust of India reported.

A suspected militant recently arrested in Indian Kashmir's Jammu region told police that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) group was also plotting attacks on eight targets in Mumbai, PTI said.

India has also boosted coastal security, a key concern after it was revealed that the 10 Islamist gunmen who attacked Mumbai in November entered the city from Pakistan by sea.

New Delhi has blamed LeT for the carnage and said it has "overwhelming evidence" that "official agencies" in Pakistan were involved in plotting and carrying out the attacks in Mumbai, which left 166 people dead over 60 hours.

Islamabad has admitted that the attacks were planned partly in Pakistan, and one of its nationals, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, is on trial in India on charges of "waging war" against the country. He denies the accusation.

Two Indian men are also on trial, accused of providing logistical support to the gunmen.