Countrywide alert on terrorism

India's Home Ministry has issued a countrywide alert after receiving intelligence of possible terrorism attacks by the Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.Advisories have been sent to several state governments asking them to increase vigilance, said a Home Ministry official who did not want to be named.

Specific cities - including Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bangalore - and the tourist destination Goa are among the possible targets of the terrorism over the New Year weekend, .Security has been tightened in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka states.Police have launched house-to-house searches in some areas of Mumbai, the PTI news agency reported. Additional personnel have been deployed in markets, religious sites, and bus and railway stations.Terrorists have targeted both the financial hub of Mumbai and Ahmedabad, a major city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, in the past.More than 166 people were killed in November 2008 in a three-day attack on Mumbai by gunmen said to belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba.

German raids against terrorism

The German Interior Ministry ordered simultaneous raids for terrorist in three states on Tuesday against what it called Salafist networks suspected of seeking the imposition of an Islamic state. The action signaled growing concern over the radical messages of some Islamic groups.

The raids, in Bremen, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, were not linked to a recent terrorism alert reportedly inspired by phone calls from a man who said he wanted to quit working with terrorists and who warned of a pending Mumbai-style attack, the Interior Ministry said.

The ministry statement said the raids were directed at two groups: Invitation to Paradise in the cities of Brunswick and Mönchengladbach, and the Islamic Culture Center of Bremen, on the North Sea coast. The two groups work closely together and share the same ideology. The authorities are seeking to outlaw both groups.

The raids appeared to represent a departure for the German authorities in their dealings with radical terrorism. They were conducted under the authority of postwar laws enacted with an eye to the Nazis to prevent the overthrow of the state or Constitution by extremist groups. Before, those statutes had been invoked primarily against right-wing nationalist and neo-Nazi groups, and German intelligence had focused primarily on individual Muslim extremists rather than groups.

The ministry’s statement emphasized this shift in approach. “For a well-fortified democracy, it is necessary and demanded, without waiting for the jihad to occur in the form of armed struggle, to take action against anti-constitutional organizations.”

The statement said the groups were suspected of opposing constitutional order by seeking to “overthrow it in favor of an Islamic theocracy.” There was no indication that any arrests were made.

India gives new ‘terrorism’ warning to Pakistan

Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna alleged on Wednesday that Pakistan-terrorism backed attacks in Kashmir were underpinning a “trust deficit” that was holding up efforts to improve ties between the neighbours.

He told the UN General Assembly that India shares international concerns about “the growth and consolidation of militancy and terrorism in Pakistan”The Indian minister spoke one day after his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressed “grave concern” to the assembly about Indian occupied Kashmir, the bitterest source of tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals. Krishna said Jammu and Kashmir “is the target of such Pakistan-sponsored militancy and terrorism. “Pakistan must fulfil its solemn commitment of not allowing territory under its control to be used for terrorism directed against India,” the minister declared. “Pakistan cannot impart lessons to us on democracy and human rights,” Krishna added. “If, however, Pakistan were to live up to its commitment not to allow use of its soil by terrorists acting against India, this would significantly help reduce the trust deficit that impedes the development of better bilateral relations.” Held Kashmir has seen a new wave of protests since June 11, when a 17-year-old student was killed by a police teargas shell. Indian security forces have been accused of killing 107 people since then. Despite their new diplomatic tussle, Krishna still invited his Pakistani counterpart to attend the Commonwealth Games which open in New Delhi this weekend, saying it would give them a chance to “continue the dialogue.”