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NEW DELHI - India has increased airport security and warned its domestic airlines about a possible hijack attempt after a tip-off from Western intelligence services, officials said Friday.
The alert to India's civil aviation ministry said flights of state-run Air India and private carriers could be targeted by Islamist groups aligned to Al-Qaeda or the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group.
"We have intelligence inputs that there could be a hijack attempt of Indian planes," U.K. Bansal, senior home ministry official in charge of internal security, said.
"We suspect that there can be an attempt to target one of our airlines, especially those which fly abroad," Bansal said as India geared up for celebrations marking the annual Republic Day on January 26 which is traditionally a time of heightened security tensions.
New security measures including additional checks on baggage and travellers at airports and the deployment of sky marshals on planes were being put in place, a statement from the civil aviation ministry said.
The alert came after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned Wednesday that Islamist South Asian militant groups could trigger a war between Pakistan and India through a "provocative act".
He also said that the United States would continue to share intelligence to prevent an attack.
Tensions are running high between Pakistan and India in the wake of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks which killed 166 people that New Delhi says were planned and executed by the LeT.
"We have alerted the ministry of civil aviation and bureau of civil aviation security and tightened security in all airports in the country," Bansal added.
The alert warns of flights from India or originating in countries neighbouring India -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal or Sri Lanka -- being specific targets.
"The information has been passed on to airport authorities and airline offices," said civil aviation ministry spokeswoman Moushumi Chakravarty.
India's privately operated Jet Airways with 400 daily domestic flights and services to all regional countries except Pakistan and the Maldives said it was taking extra precautions.
"The overall security is provided by the government but we have our own security and our aircraft are guarded," company senior general manager A.K. Shivanandan told AFP.
Officials from Kingfisher Airlines also said they were strengthening their own security for passengers because of the latest alert.
"We are strictly abiding by all the guidelines given to us by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security," an airline executive who did not want to be named said.
Meanwhile, the Press Trust of India news agency, quoting unnamed officials, reported that the LeT had acquired paragliding equipment to launch aerial attacks on India. Officials said they were unaware of any such threat.
The developments came as India named a former foreign secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon, as its new national security adviser in a step to revamp its intelligence machinery.
The last hijacking in India occurred on Christmas Eve in 1999 when Islamic rebels seized an Indian Airlines plane travelling from Nepal to New Delhi and forced it to land in the then-Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.
One passenger was stabbed to death by the hijackers before New Delhi agreed to release four Islamic militants in exchange for the 167 passengers and crew.
India has been battling an Islamic insurgency in its Muslim-majority region of Kashmir for the past 20 years.
Prominent rebel groups fighting Indian troops in the disputed region include the LeT and the Jaish-e-Mohammed, founded by one of the militants freed in return for the Indian plane hostages.
- AFP/ir
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