India issues nationwide terror alert for New Year

India’s Home Ministry has issued a countrywide alert after receiving information of a potential terror strike by a Pakistan-based militant group, Associated Press reported.

The Ministry official says more police patrols and strict security checks have been ordered in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, and several other cities following credible reports that a banned militant group was planning a terror attack over the New Year weekend.

The Home Ministry official was speaking Tuesday on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Police in India take terror threats seriously after a three-day terrorist siege in 2008 killed 166 people in Mumbai, the AP report added.