New Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata have been put on terror alert after the Intelligence Bureau received information about terrorists planning strikes in these three cities to disrupt Independence Day celebrations.

The Delhi police has already arrested two militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen and busted their plans of carrying out terror attacks in the capital.

Due to the intense global pressure in the wake of the terror attack on Mumbai, terror groups have been maintaining a low-profile, but this is their latest plan to cause mayhem in India, an IB official told rediff.com.

Text: Vicky Nanjappa

IB reports indicate that each city is likely to be targeted by a different terror outfit. While the Hizbul Mujahideen has decided to take on New Delhi, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Harkat-ul-Jihadi are planning to strike at Hyderabad and Kolkata respectively.

Hizbul and the Students Islamic Movement of India, which are closely linked, are trying to revive their operations by striking in Delhi. Investigating officers say that since the crackdown on SIMI, there have been desperate efforts to revive the banned outfit.

Hizbul Mujahideen, which has concentrated its operations in Kashmir so far, is trying to spread its operations to other parts of the country.

The Lashkar has been planning a terror attack on Hyderabad since a long time. The city had witnessed a massive crackdown on LeT and SIMI operatives after the twin blasts in August 2007.

According to an officer from Hyderabad, the police have detected some unusual activity among the youth in the city and this led to suspicions about a possible strike.

Major hotels and other likely terror targets are being checked in Hyderabad and the city police have roped in additional forces, according to Police Commissioner Prasad Rao.

The Harkat-ul-Jihadi, which had initially focused on Hyderabad, has shifted a major part of its operations to West Bengal due to logistical reasons. HuJi, a Bangladesh-based terror outfit, was instructed to intensify operations in Bengal and other North Eastern states. Kolkata has always been a likely target for terror groups and earlier, in January 2009, there were specific warnings about a possible terror strike.

However, sources point out that these could be measures by terror groups to distract the security agencies, and it is extremely important for police agencies of all states to secure important locations.

The latest developments prove that the various terror groups are trying to regroup and re-launch operations on the Indian soil, says the IB. The seizure of fake currency in Maharashtra and other parts of the country and the arrest of SIMI operatives indicate that terror groups are gearing up for the next major attack.