Aerial strikes are Mumbai's next worry: Pradhan report

New Delhi: Mumbai is susceptible to airborne attacks by terrorists, who are becoming innovative in their means and actions, warns a government-appointed probe panel set up after the 26/11 terror strikes.
The R.D. Pradhan committee, formed to probe individual and systematic lapses which led to the attacks and the manner in which the 60-hour siege was handled, has slammed Maharashtra state's security establishment for the "total confusion" in processing intelligence alerts about a possible attack.
IANS has a copy of the 90-page probe report, written by former home secretary R.D. Pradhan and former civil servant V. Balachandran. The committee was formed after 10 heavily armed Pakistani terrorists launched simultaneous multiple attacks in Mumbai last November that brought the state government to its knees.
"One should not overlook the possibility of airborne attacks on targets in the city in future," the report says in a bold and underlined paragraph in its final observations.
"With increasing use of helicopters by the government as well as non-official parties, one may conceive a helicopter being taken over," the probe panel has warned.
Without any pin-pointed reference if the threat was based on a specific intelligence input, the panel has recommended that the matter be taken up for study and necessary aviation security measures worked out.
27/12/09 Murali Krishnan and Sarwar Kashani/IANS/Mangalorean.com

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Categories: Safety Dec 2009