Pakistan On “Red Alert”
September 25, 2008 by national
Filed under World Report
Pakistan has gone to Red Alert status. The crisis deepens with word that additional explosive-laden trucks, similar to the one used earlier this week in the Marriott hotel bombing, may have entered Islamabad. There are additional reports of a number of al Qaeda plans “in the pipeline to attack locations across Pakistan to destabilize the country.”
From CBS News
Pakistan’s security officials put all of the country’s airports on “red alert” Thursday after intelligence warnings of a suicide attack.
“We had very credible information of a suicide attempt in Islamabad which prompted this step,” a senior security official stated. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to address the matter.
At the country’s largest airport, in the capital city of Islamabad, only passengers with valid tickets were allowed to enter the airport until Thursday afternoon. A government official said the emergency security measures were under constant review.
The security official said the heightened security was prompted by information gained through the interrogation of a recently arrested militant suspect, but he declined to identify the suspect or say when or where the person was taken into custody.
[...]
A Western defense official in Islamabad told Bokhari there were reports of a number of al Qaeda plans “in the pipeline to attack locations across Pakistan to destabilize the country.”
According to a report Wednesday in Pakistan’s Daily Times newspaper, intelligence agencies informed the police that three explosives-laden trucks had entered the capital city – one of them known to have been destroyed in the Marriott Hotel attack last Saturday.
