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Gujarat on alert for Navratri

AHMEDABAD — With Navratri, nicknamed the ‘world’s longest dance festival’, beginning in Gujarat on Wednesday, security forces have been put on alert throughout the state, especially after intelligence inputs received by the police said two terrorists involved in the recent Delhi high court blast had sneaked into the communally sensitive state and could strike ‘anytime, anywhere’.

Gujarat director-general of police Chittaranjan Singh told Khaleej Times that the report sent by the Multi Agency Centre (MAC) of the federal government was taken seriously and an alert had been sounded in the state, which figures prominently on the terror radar. According to the MAC report, the two criminals now hiding in Gujarat were part of a larger group of seven Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihadal-Islami (HuJI) terrorists who have been deployed to trigger blasts across India.

Singh said the police were worried because the HuJI men, two of whom had also entered West Bengal, were believed to be busy planning the strikes without any local logistical support. For ensuring peace during the most popular festival of the youths, private security guards and additional closed-circuit television cameras have been installed at the vantage points at the venues where the traditional dances would be performed every night till October 6, attracting
huge crowds. — news@khaleejtimes.com