Terror Alert In Several Indian Cities After Intelligence Hints At 10 Illegal Entrants From Pakistan Plotting Attack

A terror alert was issued in several Indian cities Monday after security forces gathered intelligence input that suggested 10 terrorists from the northern neighboring country of Pakistan may have entered the country.

India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh met with officials from the country’s Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing after they received information from Pakistan that the men may be planning an attack in the western state of Gujarat.

The men are believed to have entered India through Gujarat and were planning a “big strike” there during the religious festival of Mahashivaratri on Monday, NDTV, a local news network, reported. Security in the state was increased while four teams of the National Security Guard commandos were also deployed there.

At the meeting, Singh reportedly reviewed the steps taken by officials to boost security at religious sites and industrial areas in Gujarat and in the metro cities that have been alerted of the terror threat.

Among the cities, New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Vijayawada, Bhopal and Chandigarh were warned of possible strikes, Hindustan Times, a local newspaper, reported. A police official told the paper that anti-terrorism officials were also going through the details of phone SIM cards that have been sold over the past two months while 10 people have so far been detained for questioning.

The alert comes soon after Indian officials seized a Pakistani boat in an area off the western Kutch coast in Gujarat on Saturday. India's Border Security Force officials said that the occupants of the boat fled as soon as they saw the officers and have been absconding since then. Nothing suspicious was found from the boat, NDTV reported.

A senior military official said later Saturday that there were “disturbing inputs” about a possible terror attack that was being planned to create “maximum impact” during the religious festival and the ongoing Parliamentary session, NDTV reported.