Israelis warned not to go to Goa * Al-Qaeda threat looms over Goa

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Jerusalem Post
Dec. 13, 2006 17:01

Israelis warned not to go to Goa
By JPOST.COM STAFF
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881885910&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Foreign Ministry released an urgent terror alert Wednesday,
warning Israelis not to travel Goa, India.

The ministry said they had received concrete information
regarding an imminent Al-Qaida terror attack in the region.
Foreign Ministry officials said that the warning applied until
the end of December.

Goa, a popular tourist spot in India, is currently home to a
significant number of Israeli tourists.

Counter terrorism officials highly recommended that Israeli
citizens avoid sites in the Goa region for the "next few weeks."
They also said that crowds or attractions popular to Israelis and
Westerners should also be avoided.

The Foreign Ministry added that from the legal point of view,
Israelis were not forbidden from going to the region, and that
they could choose to ignore the warning.

The ministry stressed, however, that such a choice would be
highly ill advised.

NDTV [New Delhi Television]
Dec. 4, 2006

Al-Qaeda threat looms over Goa
by Sudhi Ranjan Sen
Monday, December 4, 2006 (New Delhi):
http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Al-Qaeda+threat+looms+over+Goa&id=97414&category=National

A few weeks ago the Union Home Ministry issued a terror alert
warning of Bali-like bombing in Goa, and the danger it seems is
far from over.

Sources tell NDTV that two Al-Qaeda terrorists, an Algerian and a
Yemeni, carried out a recce and dry runs of attacks in Goa some
time ago and are likely to return and carry out an attack,
possibly with help from modules in India.

Sources say that the two terrorists conducted recces of Goa's
beaches and even dry runs for attacks on popular hotels and
nightclubs like Tito's and Cabana.

Their likely targets are tourists from Israel and Western Europe.

A section of India's intelligence thinks that this was the first
confirmed Al-Qaeda presence in India.

But the government seems to want to downplay the evidence,
perhaps to keep up the pressure on Pakistan to reign in terror
groups operating out of its territory.

And also perhaps because it wants to avoid a scare among tourists.

Officially, the state government is still denying a terror
threat. But there's no denying the heavy security in Goa, even
though they're trying to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Nightclubs are under surveillance and hotel staff has been
specially trained to pick out possible terrorists.

A few weeks ago Goa was just one the many tourist spots put on
high alert but after this threat what is worrying security
agencies even more is that local or Pakistan-based groups could
be co-opted to carry out an attack.