Indian airports on high alert for terrorist attack

Airports in India were on high alert today following warnings of a new terrorist attack.

The threat of an airborne attack focused on three major airports – New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai – but security was stepped up across the country. No further details about the threat were released.

“This is a warning which we have received. We are prepared as usual,” India’s air force chief, Fali Homi Major, said.

Heavily armed guards from India’s Rapid Deployment Force manned roadblocks outside airports, while others patrolled inside airport buildings among passengers.

Several extra layers of security were set up and some passengers had bags scanned with devices to check for explosives before entering terminals.

“Passengers have been asked to pass through six-stage security checks,” said a police spokesman at the airport in the northern city of Lucknow.

Nirmala Sharma, a passenger who flew from New Delhi to Lucknow, said her bags were checked half a dozen times and she went through a metal detector three times. “Sometimes it seemed tedious, but it seems to be the need of the hour,” she said.

Meanwhile, officials continued to probe the attacks.

Evidence collected in probes so far has pointed to two members of outlawed Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba as masterminds in the attacks, according to two Indian government officials familiar with the matter.

The men, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Yusuf Muzammil, are believed to be in Pakistan, the officials said.

Meanwhile US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Pakistani leaders in Islamabad after visiting India as part of a US effort to pressure Pakistan to share more intelligence and pursue terrorist cells believe rooted in the country.

“I have found a Pakistani government that is focused on the threat and understands its responsibilities to respond to terrorism and extremism,” she said after meeting President Asif Ali Zardari.

Mr Zardari “reiterated that the government will not only assist in (the) investigation but also take strong action against any Pakistani elements found involved in the attack,” his office said.

He said Pakistan was “determined to ensure that its territory is not used for any act of terrorism”.

Government security forces have come under intense criticism they missed warnings and bungled their response to last week’s attacks.

Today police said an unexploded hand grenade was found outside a hospital that was the scene of an attack during last week’s siege on the city.

The discovery came after police detected two bombs at Mumbai’s main train station yesterday, nearly a week after they were left there by the attackers.

It was not clear why the bags at the station were not examined earlier. The station, which serves hundreds of thousands of commuters, was declared safe and reopened hours after the attack.

Fallout from the attacks widened today as the chief minister of Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located, stepped down. The country’s top law enforcement official resigned last week.

“I regret that we could not have saved more lives, that regret will remain with me,” said the minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh.

With public anger over the attacks rising by the day, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee adopted a more strident tone against India’s long-time rival, saying there was no doubt the assailants were Pakistani and their handlers were in Pakistan.