The Kerala coastal police department said it has been on alert since May 23 after the intelligence input came from Sri Lanka. (File Image) The Kerala coastal police department said it has been on alert since May 23 after the intelligence input came from Sri Lanka. (File Image)

Coastal authorities in Kerala are on high alert after an intelligence report said that 15 Islamic State terrorists had set off on boats from Sri Lanka for Lakshwadeep islands, news agency PTI reported on Sunday. While such alerts are ‘usual practice’, sources told PTI that this time they have specific information about the number of terrorists.

Police stations along the state coastline were told to look out for suspicious vessels in the sea.

The coastal police department has been on alert ever since Sri Lanka issued the intelligence input on May 23.

“We have been on alert since the Sri Lankan attack. We have alerted fishing vessel owners and others venturing into the sea to be cautious,” a coastal police department official told PTI.

Meanwhile, according to ANI, the Indian Coast Guard today deployed its ships and maritime surveillance aircraft around the Lakshadweep and Minicoy Islands territory and borders that the country shared with Sri Lanka in order to thwart any attempt by the IS terrorists to enter Indian waters.

After serial bomb blasts rocked the island country on Easter Sunday in April, Kerala was put on alert, especially after NIA investigations revealed that IS operatives had planned attacks in the state.

Sri Lanka had witnessed a deadly terror attack on April 21 when eight blasts across different parts of the country, killed over 250 people and injured hundreds. The Islamic State group’s National Thowheeth Jama’ath claimed responsibility for the attack, within a week of the bombings.

(With agency inputs from PTI, ANI)

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