Seven states put on alert after terror attack call to Police

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Seven states, including all south Indian ones, were put on alert late on Thursday after the Bengaluru police received a tip-off about a possible terror attack on multiple cities and the gathering of a group of terrorists in Tamil Nadus Ramnathapuram.

The alert comes at a time when security and intelligence agencies are concerned about the existence of sleeper cells on Indian soil that could be linked to the group that carried out bombings in Sri Lanka, where 253 people were killed on Sunday during Easter celebrations.

A caller claiming to be a lorry driver said major cities in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Maharashtra and Puducherry would be hit by terror attacks (which) will take place on trains, said the letter issued by Karnataka director general of police to the states mentioned in the tip.

He also claimed that there are 19 terrorists present at Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu, the letter added. A Karnataka police official, who asked not to be named, said the letter had been sent out after analysing the tip-off, which was received around 5:30pm. Inputs with the police suggest that over a dozen terrorists could have sneaked through Ramanathapuram, the officer added.