World | India
New Delhi airport gripped by security scare
Police officials reject media reports of gunfire and say the incident was a false alarm they are now investigating.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:46 December 5, 2008
New Delhi: The Indian capital's international airport was the scene of a major security scare overnight Thursday after what appeared to be a false alarm, officials at the airport said.
"We have combed the airport inch by inch and we have found nothing. The same is for the domestic airport. Nothing has happened," said K. R. Singh, the official in charge of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) airport control room.
The CISF is the paramilitary unit responsible for airport security.
No injuries
"All our men are still searching but have found nothing. We have no incident," he said, dismissing unconfirmed media reports of a shooting incident at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The NDTV, Times Now and CNN-IBN news channels said there were unconfirmed reports of up to three shots being fired from a car near the international terminal, and that security forces were investigating.
Airport officials, however, said the reports of firing appeared to be a false alarm and that the facility was functioning normally.
CISF Deputy Inspector General Udayan Banerjee later told NDTV that "there was no eyewitness" to any shooting "and no injuries."
"Everything is okay. There is no evidence of gunfire. Nothing like that has come up," he said, adding that people who sparked the alert had only heard "sounds similar to gunfire."
India had put its airports on high alert Thursday following warnings of possible attacks using hijacked aircraft, a week after militants launched a devastating assault on Mumbai that killed more than 170 people.
The emergency measures were enacted as Defence Minister A.K. Antony ordered the armed forces to be on guard against "any terror strikes from the air."
All major airports - including Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi -have been on high alert since early Thursday.
The Press Trust of India news agency said an attack may be timed to coincide with the December 6 anniversary of the destruction of the Babri mosque in northern India by Hindu extremists in 1992.
Meanwhile, US analysts said there could have been more terrorists who escaped after the three-day rampage in Mumbai.
More attackers
"I think there are more. My sources say (there were) at least 23 of the gunmen," said Farhana Ali, a former CIA and Rand Corp counter-terrorism analyst and expert on militant networks.
"If that's true, that makes one wonder why we haven't seen more attacks. Are they lying low?" she said. "I think they (Indian authorities) are bracing themselves for more."
David Kilcullen, who has served as a senior counterterrorism adviser to US General David Petraeus and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said he agreed that were probably more attackers.
"The Indians said there were 10 attackers, based on the fact that they captured one and killed nine - you have to assume there are more out there," he said.
Indian newspapers said the Pakistan military;s spy agency ISI was involved in training the militants, who are said to belong to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group.
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