New Delhi: Intelligence agencies have tipped off India’s aviation authorities about a hijack threat to Air India’s Delhi-Kabul flight following which an alert has been issued and security beefed up further at all Indian airports. The alert was confirmed by sources in the aviation security establishment.
Air India sources said that alerts are passed on from time to time and that the airline takes the alerts seriously but did not comment on this specific threat.
Sources pointed out that Air India currently operates five flights per week from New Delhi to the Afghan capital. The alert comes barely three weeks before the arrival of US President Barack Obama to India on an official visit.
Security agencies are on high alert as Pakistan-based or Pakistan-backed terrorists may look to carry out a massive terror strike just before the high-profile visit to attract global attention.
The threat is also ominous since the last hijack of an Indian plane that of the erstwhile Indian Airlines flight IC-814 — took place in 1999 to Afghanistan. That flight had been hijacked from the Nepalese capital Kathmandu to the Afghan city of Kandahar at a time when the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan.
05/01/15 Deccan Chronicle
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Air India sources said that alerts are passed on from time to time and that the airline takes the alerts seriously but did not comment on this specific threat.
Sources pointed out that Air India currently operates five flights per week from New Delhi to the Afghan capital. The alert comes barely three weeks before the arrival of US President Barack Obama to India on an official visit.
Security agencies are on high alert as Pakistan-based or Pakistan-backed terrorists may look to carry out a massive terror strike just before the high-profile visit to attract global attention.
The threat is also ominous since the last hijack of an Indian plane that of the erstwhile Indian Airlines flight IC-814 — took place in 1999 to Afghanistan. That flight had been hijacked from the Nepalese capital Kathmandu to the Afghan city of Kandahar at a time when the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan.
05/01/15 Deccan Chronicle
