Police in northern India have heightened security around the Taj Mahal after receiving a letter threatening to blow up the monument, officials said Friday. Sandbag bunkers have been set up outside the towering entrance gates leading to the 17th century monument and soldiers belonging to an anti-terrorist squad have been posted on 24-hour duty, said Ashok Kumar, a senior government official in Uttar Pradesh state where the Taj Mahal is located.
Police were investigating a handwritten letter purportedly sent by an Al Qaeda supporter, saying the terrorist group planned to carry out blasts at the Taj Mahal.
Police were skeptical about the letter, but had begun investigations, Kumar said Friday.
"Police are verifying the source of the letter," he said. "The letter could be false but we cannot afford to be complacent. We are not taking any chances and have enhanced security at the Taj."
"The letter, signed by someone calling himself Mohammed Mirza and claiming to be associated with the Al Qaeda, was received at the office of the superintendent of police in Agra on Thursday," Kumar said.
“The letter said the Al Qaeda had plans to carry out blasts at the Taj Mahal and around busy markets of Agra," he said.
Besides being a sovereign nation who abides by the rule of law, India is the largest democracy in the world. With a population nearly four times that of the United States and a billion people, India modeled its government on the British parliamentary system, with a healthy dose of influences from the United States and the rest of Europe.
This is a direct threat to Al Qaeda and like-minded radical murderers. Who’s goal as far as I can tell is to create a Muslim world predicated on the rule of the first Caliphs and with that, the destruction of Israel and the toppling of pro-Western dictatorships and democracies around the Middle East and eventually the world.
The world has got to understand this enemy before it's too late! Unfortunately this is very slow in coming. Just the other night Christiane Amanpour sitting in for Larry King, had two terrorism experts on the show from the U.K. Guest Dr. Anthony McCroy, while explaining to Ms. Amanpour that Islamic disgruntled youth and extremists feel their at war, she either didn’t understand the concept or was unwilling to accept the obvious. This rings true for many liberal minded people who would rather put the blinders on instead of facing the truth.
