'Al Qaeda, Lashkar planned to attack CWG venues on Oct 12-13'

New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba
terror outfits had planned to attack some venues of the
just-concluded Commonwealth Games in the national capital on
October 12 and 13, prompting the government to put in place a
four-layer security arrangement in the last three days of the
sporting extravaganza.
Besides this, in a bid to destroy the highly-secured
security structure, there have been hundreds of cyber attacks,
suspected to be originating from China, to penetrate the
computerised system and server during the Games fortnight.
A Western intelligence agency had tipped off the
government on October 10 that al Qaeda and LeT militants,
trained along the Afghan-Pakistan borders, would try to attack
a few venues and a hotel, government sources said.
Alarmed by the input, the government enhanced the
security of the Games venues and village from three layers to
four and brought additional forces, including armed commandos,
to foil any attempt of sabotage even from air.
The Intelligence input was very specific about the
venues suggested that the militants would probably come from
Middle East or Nepal or from across India's western border,
sources said.
As the information had suggested that the terrorists
may target a five-star hotel, security has been increased in
eight leading hotels in Delhi.
There was also information that terrorists may use
paragliders to reach the venues prompting authorities to put
in place anti-aircraft guns.
Credentials of all foreign nationals arriving in
international airports were checked one-by-one and 20 Quick
Reaction Teams were deployed besides keeping ready a special
team of 40 army commandos near the sporting venues, including
Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the venue for the opening and
closing ceremonies.
The government also enhanced security in 32 markets in
Delhi by deploying around 1,200 additional paramilitary force
personnel which were air dashed from Chandigarh, Jalandhar
and a few other places to assist Delhi Police to guard
business centres.
The sources said there have been hundreds of cyber
attacks, originating mainly from China, to destroy the
computerised security system put in place to guard the venues
and village. All athletes, officials, visitors and security
personnel were given a highly-secured accreditation cards. One
could enter the venues and village only after the computerised
system screen him/her and gives a signal.
Had this computerised network collapsed in any such
cyber attack, which was first launched within two hours after
the opening ceremony began, the whole security system would
have gone wrong.
The government immediately set up a dedicated unit to
counter the cyber attack and to design firewalls. PTI ACB
AVT


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