Agency report

Mumbai, July 22: The Mumbai police have announced an alert in the city. The alert was announced after the intelligence bureau warned of a possible terror strike. The police department has gone forward and cancelled the leave of its personnel; those on leave have been asked to resume duty as soon as possible, top police officers said.

The police sent the 'alert' message through wireless across the city after it received information from the IB on Friday. Policemen from all the police stations have been asked to conduct nakabandis on all important roads. The crime branch has begun checking the record of history-sheeters. ATS chief Krish Pal Raghuvanshi, however, did not comment.

Last week, the city police had to work round-the-clock in view of the first anniversary of the July 11 serial bomb blasts. Security agencies are also keeping watch on around 400 members of a banned organisation, said an officer.

"Generally, an alert is announced after a terror strike or when information about a terror conspiracy is received. However, at this point of time many terror related incidents have taken place in J&K and outside the country. Moreover, Independence Day, when the entire country is on high alert, is nearing," a police source said.

Senior IPS officers said there were several reasons for the high alert. "We cannot ignore the recent Operation Silence in Pakistan, where the gun battle between the militants hiding in the Lal Masjid and the army resulted in several deaths. Later, a suicide bomber in Islamabad killed 16 people and injured over 40 others last Tuesday. This is one of the major reasons for stepping up security across the city and providing additional security to vital installations," said joint commissioner of police (law and order) K L Prasad.

This is not the only reason, he added. The grenade attack on Amarnath pilgrims in Srinagar in which 10 people were injured is also a reason why security is being strengthened. "If the militants attack in a remote town it will not be noticed (by the media) and therefore they (militants) always try to create terror in metropolitan cities which would be noticed at the national level," Prasad said.

An officer said the police in Maharashtra, especially in Mumbai, cannot ignore grenade attacks in J&K on Friday. "We have got an alert from the IB. We cannot take any chance," he said.

On Saturday, the Special Cell of the Delhi police arrested a teenaged boy who had allegedly called up the police three days ago and said that the Al-Qaeda would attack Parliament on August 15.