Security agencies have eliminated three of the ten Pakistani terrorists who had entered Gujarat recently to carry out attacks. Top official sources said the three were neutralised in a western State last Friday before they could carry out any attack in the country. The remaining seven terrorists have been zeroed in at their hideouts and operation is on to neutralise them, the sources said.
The Home Ministry
and Intelligence Bureau officials were tight-lipped about the details citing that the operation was going on and identification of the eliminated terrorists is being established.
The terrorists — suspected to be members of Pakistan-based lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) — had planned to attack the Somnath temple in Gujarat during Shivratri on March 7 besides other targets, they said.
Immediately, after the Intelligence input about the infiltration of the terrorists was received, the Centre had dispatched four NSG teams to Gujarat and they were put in different locations in the State. It was reported that the tip-off about the infiltration of terrorists through sea route was given by Pakistan’s NSA. An alert was sounded in Gujarat and all metros by central security agencies following reports about infiltration of the terrorists.
An advisory was issued to enhance security at all strategic locations, sensitive industrial sites and religious places after Intelligence inputs suggested that the terrorists had entered Gujarat taking the sea route. A similar alert was also sent to Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chandigarh.
last week, an alert was issued across the country after security agencies gave inputs about plans of Pakistan-linked terror gangs to unleash attacks during Shivratri. The alert was sounded after a Border Security Force patrolling team recovered an abandoned boat — allegedly from Pakistan — off Koteshwar coast in Kutch.
This is one of the rarest occasions when Pakistan itself warned India about a possible terror attacks. The development is seen as an attempt by Pakistan to convince the international community that it was doing everything possible to prevent India from attacks planned across the border.