FIDAYEEN TERROR THREAT: Narendra Modi is next. Suicide attackers have moved close to him.

This is very serious and the Government should do everything possible to protect Gujarat Chief Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, a great visionary and nationalist leader that Bharat has seen in a long while.

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Modi is next in fidayeen crosshairs

After Mumbai, where will the fidayeen strike next? If intelligence intercepts and top police officials are to be believed, the next big terror focus is Gujarat, with chief minister Narendra Modi being the target of a suicide attack.

"One of the intelligence intercepts said the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was determined to avenge the killings of over a thousand Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 by killing 5,000 in Gujarat. Similar information has now been revealed by the lone terrorist now in the custody of the Mumbai police," says an intelligence source.

"The Taj was also on the LeT radar. We had written to the Gujarat and Maharashtra governments and Ratan Tata to take necessary measures. Tata has publicly acknowledged our warning," the official said.

Another senior Maharashtra police officer said a group of LeT operatives was already in Gujarat trying to penetrate Modis inner cordon. Modi gets Z category security, the highest level. This is being reviewed in the context of the first part of the intelligence - the Taj and Oberoi attacks - coming true.

"After the Mumbai attacks, the threat to Modi has increased. Our perception is suicide attackers have moved close to Modi, and the state government has been asked to be on high alert," the officer said.

The state government is covertly screening all those working closely with Modi at his residence and office to avoid any sabotage from within, the official added.

The Gujarat government is also trying to sniff out the fidayeen group, if it has already reached close to the target.

Sources in Gandhinagar, the Gujarat capital, said warnings of a renewed threat to Modi had not yet been communicated by the Intelligence Bureau formally. Modi is already one of the most protected VIPs in the country. In addition to cover from the National Security Guards, he also gets security from state commandos.

Gujarat minister of state for home Amit Shah said he has not received any fresh communication on a new threat to Modis life. But he said Modi had enough security cover. State chief secretary D Rajagopalan declined to divulge anything, saying he would not be able throw light on such queries.

A senior police official said Modi was given a two-tier security layer for functions attended in Ahmedabad and other places in the state. In the past few months, commandos had been deployed even on the Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad route at a few vulnerable points. This arrangement has been made following reports that Modis motorcade could be blasted by explosives-laden vehicles operated by fidayeen groups.

Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh and, recently, in West Bengal have used this technique to target politicians.