An email threatening large scale bomb blasts at several important places in Hyderabad on Independence Day on Friday has created a major flutter in the city police and has forced the administration to put the police force on a high alert.
The email, proclaiming to be from the terrorist organisation Al Qaeda, threatened the bomb blasts at important government offices and public places including the Imax Theater on the lines of last year's twin blasts.
It also said that Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was also very much on its hit list.
However, what has made the email look fishy was the wrongly spelled name of the organisations as 'Alkhaida Zihad' making the police wonder whether it was another mischief by a prankster. But on the other hand, the email has warned the police not to take the threat lightly. "We are not joking like ordinary citizens," the email said.
The email also added that its supporters were present in many important cities across the state including Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Karimnagar, Anantapur, Kadpa, Khammam and Vikarabad.
The police, on being informed by a Telugu news channel about the receipt of the email, obtained a copy of it for closer scrutiny. Nevertheless, the city police commissioner put his force on high alert. The police teams including plain clothes policemen, bomb squads and dog squads fanned all over the city to searching vehicles and to keep an eye on the suspicious looking elements.
The security at the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad, where the chief minister will unfurl the national flag on Friday has come under a security blanket. The police have taken over the security of the place and cordoned it off.
The email said that the terrorist organisation had planned to blow up the Imax Theater in August last year itself along with the Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat in which 43 people were killed. But it could not carry it out.
Commissioner B Prasad Rao said additional police force has been deployed at all key installations and important places like bus and railway stations, public places including shopping malls and theaters and the Shamsbahad International Airport. The airport lounge has been closed for the visitors till the further notice.
The police sources said that apart from the email threat, it had also received intelligence warning about possible terrorist strike on Independence Day in Hyderabad and other places in the state.
Security has also been strengthened at 16 irrigation dams in the state including the biggest dams Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar, which are fast filling up with heavy inflows since Wednesday.
