AP News, December 23rd, 2006
Indian authorities have tightened security around Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi after intelligence agencies warned she could be the target of a suicide bombing plot by Islamic militants, including al-Qaida, an official said Friday.
Gandhi is one of the most powerful politicians in India, and the Press Trust of India reported that security agencies believe a plot against her is in the works, with Pakistani militant groups taking a lead role. Some of those groups are widely thought to have ties to al-Qaida.
Delhi police have reportedly strengthened Gandhi's security details, and will for the time being stop traffic whenever her motorcade moves through the streets.
A home ministry official confirmed the report, but refused to provide any additional details. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authoritzed to discuss security arrangements.
The Home Ministry released a statement earlier Friday said there had been a recent review of security for VIPs, describing the move as routine.
Following the review, "an advisory was issued to all concerned to be vigilant and strengthen security arrangements for protectees in order to avoid any untoward incident," the statement said.
India has suffered dozens of terror attacks in recent years, and the vast majority are believed to have been carried out by Pakistani-based Islamic militants, most notably Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, who are fighting to wrest control of Indian-held Kashmir from India.
About a dozen groups have been fighting since 1989 for the independence of the Muslim-majority Himalayan region from largely Hindu India, or its union with Muslim Pakistan.
Italian-born Gandhi, who wields a tremendous power as the leader of the governing Congress party, comes from India's pre-eminent political dynasty.
She entered politics after her husband, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated in a 1991 suicide bombing carried out by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels. His mother Indira Gandhi _ the country's longest-serving prime minister _ also died in an assassination, that one carried out by Sikh separatists.
Rajiv Gandhi's grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India's first prime minister.
