**Indian airports are on high alert after authorities warned airlines about a possible hijack attempt by Islamic militant groups, officials say.**The civil aviation ministry said the high alert status was raised on the basis of Western intelligence reports.
Reports said the state-run Air India or other private carriers could be targeted by groups linked to al-Qaeda or the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The warning comes just days before India’s annual Republic Day on Tuesday.
India has issued a number of terror alerts in the past few years.
‘Security tightened’
“We have intelligence inputs that there could be a hijack attempt of Indian planes,” news agency AFP quoted UK Bansal, a senior home ministry official as saying.
“So we have alerted the ministry of civil aviation and bureau of civil aviation security and tightened security at all airports in the country.”
The alert warns of flights from India or flights originating in neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Nepal or Sri Lanka being specific targets.
A spokesman for the civil aviation ministry, Moushumi Chakravarty, confirmed the alert had been received.
“The information has been passed on to airport authorities and airline offices,” AFP quoted her as saying.
Although officials did not name any specific militant group, media reports named groups linked to al-Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Taiba.
India blames the deadly Mumbai attacks of November 2008 on Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group has denied any involvement in the attack.
In 1999 an Air India flight from Kathmandu was hijacked by Islamic militants and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.