THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Navy and the Coast Guard have intensified vigil in the Indian Ocean close on the heels of reports that Islamic State terrorists from Sri Lanka might be heading towards Lakshadweep islands.
Navy sources said they were maintaining high level of vigilance ever since the Easter Day blasts rocked the island nation. Extra surveillance has been put in place on the basis of information that suggested the possibility of IS intrusion, sources said.
“Since the blasts happened in our neighbourhood, we have been maintaining caution. Now, because of the information we have got, we have beefed up surveillance,” Navy sources said.
The Kerala Police and its coastal police wing have been on their toes after they came across inputs from various agencies that suggested there were possibilities of the movement of a 15-member IS team from Sri Lanka to Lakshadweep. Information in this regard was passed on to the coastal police SHOs and district police chiefs by Coastal ADGP Tomin J Thachankary on Thursday. Thachankary’s circular said the terrorists were heading towards Lakshadweep and Minicoy islands in a white boat.
The Navy, meanwhile, said they did not have any specific info on the matter. “We don’t have any specific info and hence we cannot conduct a search on any specific boat. The information we have got is that there are possibilities of people coming in a boat. That’s an unactionable intelligence. But we are maintaining a high level of surveillance and caution,” the Navy sources said.
About 290 people were killed and several hundreds injured in eight high-intensity blasts that rocked Sri Lanka.
The investigators have found two local groups were responsible for the blasts, while the IS also claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks that have ushered in fears of a fresh bout of sectarian violence in the country that is slowly recovering from the trauma of civil war.