Indian airports on hijack alert

Airports across India are on high alert for a fifth day today over intelligence reports that Kashmiri militants may try to hijack a plane.

Tightened security at airports meant passengers were likely to endure more searches and checks, said Maushumi Chakravarty, a civil aviation ministry spokeswoman.

The alert was likely to remain in place for some time, Chakravarty said, although she could not say precisely how long.

More than a dozen Islamic militant groups have been fighting in India’s part of Kashmir since 1989, demanding the predominantly-Muslim region’s independence from largely Hindu India, or its merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan.

At least 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the conflict.

Airports across India were put on alert after the July train bombings in Mumbai, an attack that killed more than 200 people and was blamed on Islamic militants based in Pakistan.

A similar alert was issued on December 9 after a warning that a plane flying to the US might be hijacked by Kashmiri rebels.