India issues stark terror warning

By Frank Gardner
Security correspondent, BBC News

Mr Narayanan says the al-Qaeda training is now extremely rigorous

India's national security adviser, MK Narayanan, has warned Western and Gulf Arab states to prepare for a new wave of attacks on economic targets.

Speaking at a security conference in Bahrain, Mr Narayanan said new al-Qaeda training schools had been established close to the Afghan-Pakistan border.

He said Indian intelligence reports had also identified the recruits as being from 14 different countries.

He said their targets also included high profile politicians.

Economic infrastructure in the Gulf region, such as oil pipelines and storage depots, electricity pylons and ocean going tankers are also at risk, said Mr Narayanan.

International brigade

The training of recruits, he said, had become extremely rigorous and the Gulf Arab states were highly vulnerable to such threats.

Referring to what he called "asymmetric war techniques" - the practice of attacking a more powerful enemy's weak spots - India's security adviser said the region faced a new paradigm of al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism through its extensive network of planning, funding, training and arms supply.

The training schools, he said, were turning out a new international brigade of terrorists.