Al-Qaeda recced Bangalore, Goa

National Security Guards (NSG) Director General J N Choudhury on Thursday said al-Qaeda operatives had recced Bangalore and Goa several years ago and “looking for vulnerable spots in India is nothing new for Qaeda”.

On the sidelines of NSG Raising Day celebrations in Manesar near Gurgaon, Choudhury warned that global terror outfits like al-Qaeda and IS might join hands with Indian Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba to attack the country. He said Amritsar was also on the radar of the agencies.

Noting that the NSG was fully prepared to tackle any terror attack, he said the present scenario shows that global terror groups building alliances with regional outfits like IM, LeT and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen “is more than a possibility”. “Their (al-Qaeda’s) desire to set up base in India is not new,” he added. His statements came a day after General Officer Commanding of the Army’s 15 Corps, Lt Gen Subrata Saha said waving of IS flags in Kashmir was a matter of concern and “deserves the highest attention of the security agencies”.

Last month, an al-Qaeda video had claimed that they were forming an Indian unit.

“The apprehension we have is that if they do have a combined kind of strategy or combined operations, we have to be prepared and be alert if a combined group takes action. Then there is a threat and possibility of a multi-city or multiple attacks. That is what we are preparing for and hence, we are also working with anti-terrorist forces and state police forces,” he said.

Calling the 2008 Mumbai attacks a “curtain raiser”, he said the country is facing threat of such attacks in more than one city at a time.

He said the NSG does not have its own intelligence setup to corroborate these inputs which were given by intelligence agencies.