India ups alert level, tightens air security
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India has stepped up anti-hijacking measures and ordered the deployment of air marshals as part of a security alert, officials said Friday.
P.N. Sukul, joint secretary for India's Ministry of Civil Aviation, said the alert was based on intelligence indicating that terror groups were planning an attack involving a flight from a South Asian country.
The threat might be aimed at one of the flights operating in a member country of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation or in Myanmar, formerly Burma, he said. The association members besides India are Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Pakistan.
Sukul wouldn't elaborate further.
The alert, issued by the Civil Aviation Ministry issued to airports and airlines, directs "the stepping up of security arrangements at all concerned airports and airlines following inputs received from security agencies as well as the Ministry of Home Affairs."
"The level of security to counter threat perception has been upgraded, and all necessary measures have been undertaken by the agencies in charge of civil aviation security, including strengthening of anti-hijacking measures," the alert says.
Air marshals also will be deployed on certain flights, the ministry said.