Date:25/11/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/11/25/stories/2004112515360500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

US alert on terror attack false: R.P. Singh

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, NOV. 24. The United States of America has reportedly alerted intelligence authorities in India about an Afghan national planning to attack US consulate offices in India and having taken shelter in Hyderabad.

The US authorities temporary closed down their Mumbai consulate office and stepped up vigilance at the offices in Mumbai and Chennai.

However, searches by the Hyderabad police proved that the input was incorrect. "All such reports are false. We found nothing suspicious here," the Hyderabad Police Commissioner, R.P. Singh, told The Hindu on Wednesday.

Sources said the police had verified credentials of two Indians -- Munawar and Mujahid -- who had recently returned to Hyderabad after 14 years in Jeddah, following the alert.

However, nothing incriminating was found with them suggesting that the alert was not correct.