In a strange twist to a US embassy statement in New Delhi that Al Qaeda was planning attacks in India, the State Department has said that the advisory was in "hypothetical terms."
The advisory issued on Friday that terror attacks might take place in Delhi and Mumbai in the run-up to Independence Day had created a sensation in India although the government had dismissed it as a "very innocuous" warning.
"I really don't have much that's beyond what's in the warden message (issued by the US embassy). But this does speak in somewhat more hypothetical terms," State Department Acting Spokesman Tom Casey said.
"It's not definitive information that is there, and we certainly weren't trying to convey that in the warden message. I think we certainly are concerned in general about activities not only of indigenous terrorist groups, but of the possibility of those linked or in any way associated with Al Qaeda. Any time there's possibilities like this," he said.
Asked if there are indications that the advisory could be raised to a travel warning, Casey replied, "I don't have anything at this point to announce for you. Obviously, we'll evaluate the information that we have and see if anything more than this is required."
"There have been previous attacks in India around this time of year in the past. Certainly, with the train bombings that have occurred recently too, there's added concern since there have been terrorist incidents recently. I guess I would just try and put this in that general category," he said.
"Certainly... we had information that came to our attention and that came to the attention of the Indian government that led us to be concerned about this possibility occurring again. And that's why we were alerting American citizens to it," he said.
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