Delhi on high alert: JeM targeting capital ahead of Independence Day, Intel warns Khalistan operatives training guns on Parliament

New Delhi has, yet again, been put on high alert after intelligence agencies have warned of twin terror attacks in the national capital. The warning says that Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) could target the capital ahead of Independence Day on August 15, while Parliament could become the target of two Khalistani operatives.

The Delhi police are on high alert and have been keeping a track of all the activities in the city. 

The information on the JeM's plans to attack Delhi was given out by the group's members Syed Muneer-ul-Hassan Qadri, Ashiq Baba and Tariq Ahmad Dar, who are in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for the Nagrota army camp attack in 2016. 

The arrested members of the group said that the attack could take place in crowded areas in the city and was JeM's way of avenging the death of Burhan Wani and other commanders. They also added that these attackers were mostly Kashmiri youths who had been sent to the capital and asked to pose as plumbers and other kinds of workers. 

"Qadri has revealed that he along with other valley based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operatives were in touch with its leadership in Pakistan and had received a freshly infiltrated group of three Pakistani terrorists from the Samba sector a day before the attack (on November 29, 2016)," Zee News quoted an NIA spokesperson as saying.

After these inputs, the police are said to be keeping an eye on all the activities in the Red Fort area and are also monitoring manholes and sewer lines. 

Parliament attack 

Meanwhile, intelligence agencies have warned that Khalistan operatives may be planning to attack the Parliament in the capital. Agencies added that two Khalistani terrorists are travelling to Delhi in a car that has an Uttar Pradesh registration and is laden with explosives. The operatives, identified as Lakhwinder Singh and Parminder Singh, both in their late 40s, have left the Nepal border in a white Innova, sources told the Times of India.

This input has especially been taken very seriously as it reportedly comes from two sources. A few days ago, the Delhi police are also said to have received a call and were told of a similar plot. The caller, who identified himself as Iqbal, gave a similar tip-off and also named the two attackers, which the police have said is similar to those of two suspects who were a part of the 2016 Nabha jailbreak.

The police then tracked the number to Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand and a team was also sent to the state to verify the details. Intel has also warned that the attackers could use a government vehicle or a stolen car for the Parliament attack.

"The people named are close associates of Nabha jail escapee and self-styled chief of Khalistan Liberation Force, HarminerSingh Mintoo, who died of cardiac arrest in April. He had the backing of Pak spy agency ISI and had been motivating youths to join terrorism. A man named Lakhwinder was also the close associate of the slain gangster and another Nabha escapee Vicky Gounder. We are verifying if these men are the same ones, TOI quoted a security official as saying.