Author: CNN-IBN
Publication: IBNlive.com
Date: August 6, 2007
URL: http http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india-is-our-next-target-alqaeda-issues-warning-cd/46299-3.html?xml
Al Qaeda has issued an open warning to India
saying that the country should be "ready" to see a series of terror
attacks. The says it will also target Israel, Russia and the United States.
The threat is contained in a new video featuring
Adam Yahiye Gadahn-an American al Qaeda member. He says Indian and American
diplomatic missions all over the world are their legitimate targets.
Intelligence sources have describe the Qaeda
threat as an "extended threat". This is the first time India and
another country/countries are all mentioned together by the outfit.
Sources in the home ministry told CNN-IBN
that the "threat cannot be taken lightly" although all security
systems are in place. A high level meeting is likely to review the security
measures against the terror warning. Intelligence agencies are looking into
the origin of the CD, which contained the al-Qaeda video
"We shall continue to target you at home
and abroad just as you target us at home and abroad," Adam Gadahn, a
wanted American member of Al-Qaeda, said in the video.
In the video, he accuses India of killing
more than a hundred thousand Muslims in Kashmir with America's US blessing.
The video, one-hour and 17 minutes long also has Gadahn warning that President
Bush to withdraw his troops from Muslim lands or he can expect worse than
September 11.
Responding to the threat message by al-Qaeda,
Home minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal said, "we are confident that the country
is prepared to handle any kind of threat by the terror outfit."
The minister however denied receiving any
official statement on the same. "Despite reports from the media, we haven't
received any official confirmation regarding the threats. But our country
our paramilitary forces our security forces are ready to combat any attack
of any kind," he added.
Earlier, in a TV18 network exclusive, National
Security Advisor, MK Narayanan told Karan Thapar that al Qaeda was looking
for an opportunity to strike in India and had even done the necessary reconnaissance
for it.
"We are concerned. We are all the time
on the lookout for al Qaeda's movements here. We know that on a couple of
occasions they have done a reccee and gone back. But they have not yet done
something, which is terrorizing in a big way," he said.
The firmer security advisor hinted that the
al-Qaeda groups have in the past surveyed various areas in India. "There
was a team that had come once to India and done a reccee and gone back, but
the programme they had never worked out," he added.
Narayanan said that the LeT is also an "integral
part of al Qaeda. In a sense you can always say that the al Qaeda is present
in India."
