Indian airports across the country are on high alert after authorities uncovered a possible plot to hijack a plane by militants linked to Al Qaeda, The Associated Press reported this morning.

According to Sky News, authorities believe that hijackers are targeting an Air India or Indian airlines flight to a neighbouring South Asian country. Security officials have bolstered airport screening processes and while no flights have been delayed or suspended, sky marshals have been deployed on planes.

Indian Airlines was among the airlines potentially targeted in the terror plot. Photo credit: Uwe Schwarzbach

The Times of India reported that the plot appears to be coming from several sources, including the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group with links to Al Qaeda and other terror organizations. The paper reported that intelligence officials believe that terrorists are targeting planes coming from Yangon, Burma, Colombo, Sri Lanka, or Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The heightened security alert comes just days after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups are attempting to spark a war between India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed countries currently enjoying a very wary peace. The Wall Street Journal reported that Gates, while on a three-day trip to India, told reporters that militant groups posed an “existential” threat to Pakistan and warned that though India showed remarkable restraint in not retaliating after the 2008 attack on Mumbai, the country might not be able to in the future.

Taj hotel during Mumbai terror attack. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons