The home ministry has issued an alert to Mumbai police and Orissa government of a possible terror attack by Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) modules in next few weeks.
Disclosing that the home ministry alert was based on inputs originating from Assam police, authoritative security sources told this newspaper that LeT may target Jagannath Rath Yatra which began in Puri, Orissa on Thursday.
Informing that intelligence input has already been shared with Orissa police, security sources however claimed that police have made elaborate security arrangements to avoid any possible attack by LeT men.
The alert, which was circulated to state police forces, have also warned off a possible attack of LeT on Mumbai.
Though, specific details of the offensive planned by LeT was not known, security agencies have started working to identify the possible target of the LeT men.
Informing that alert was based on human intelligence, security sources pointed that a number of Assamese youths are being recruited by LeT from the state since 2001 to carry out terror strikes in different parts of India.
Admitting that number of such recruits may not be large, security sources however felt that the trend was worrying.
Security sources also pointed out that some of the LeT modules who are suspected to have been using Northeast as their shelter are also found to have been using porous border with Bangladesh for maintaining their connections across the border.
The security agencies are of view that Let was not targeting Assam for strategic reason but was using the geographical advantages to execute their subversive plans in other parts of the country.
The terror alert has created panic among the security agencies, which have asked Mumbai police to intensify policing in vulnerable areas of the city.