New Delhi:
Government has ordered "maximum security" for Indian Missions and other assets in Afghanistan in the wake of a heightened threat from Taliban and other Pakistan-based terror groups which could carry out a wave of attacks, including car bomb blasts.
Sources said intelligence inputs suggested that apart from the embassy in Kabul, consulates in Kandahar, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat and development and reconstruction projects being carried out by Indians could be targeted by Haqqani faction of Taliban or terrorist groups based in
Pakistan like Laskhar-e-Taiba, which has lately been expanding its base in Afghanistan.
The terrorists could launch a wave of attacks, involving explosion of car-bomb followed by assault by gunmen, the sources said.
Nearly 200 Indo Tibetan Border Police personnel, who are guarding the embassy that has already been targeted twice since 2008, and Indian nationals working on developmental projects have been alerted of the possibility of the attacks.
The staff of the embassy and Indians working on developmental projects have been advised to exercise caution, restrict their movements to the minimum and maintain secrecy.
On February 26 this year, two hotels in Kabul where Indians engaged in developmental and reconstruction works in that country were targeted by terrorists.
The terror attack was on the pattern of the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, with six to eight terrorists targeting the hotels and hunting for victims during the strike in which two major-rank officers of the army were among the six Indians killed and 10 others, including five army officers, were injured.
The attack was the fourth on Indian interests in Afghanistan since July 2008 when a car laden with 100kg of explosives was blown up at the gate of Indian Embassy, killing 60 people, including four Indians a Brigadier-rank officer, a senior IFS officer and two ITBP personnel.
In October last year, terrorists struck again at the embassy, carrying out a car bomb explosion near its outer wall and killing 17 people.
Subsequently, in December, a hotel housing staff of an Indian IT company was targeted. Eight people were killed and two IT executives, an Indian cook and a cleaner were among those injured.