National Security Guard (NSG) chief J.N. Chaudhary Thursday said al-Qaeda's threat to attack India was a matter of concern as the terror group can target Indian cities with the help of Pakistan-based militants.Al-Qaeda and IS or Islamic State may join hands with terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Harkat-ul-Ansar and Indian Mujahideen (IM) to target Indian cities, the NSG director general said."Al-Qaeda's threat to attack Indian cities is a matter of concern. They can target India in collaboration with Pakistan-based terrorist outfits," he told reporters after the elite force's 30th Raising Day celebrations at the Manesar base camp here.Chaudhary said the terror groups were planning to carry out 26/11 Mumbai style multiple terror attacks in India."We are facing threat of such attacks in more than one city at a time...Our commandos are being trained to counter such attacks," he said.
Chaudhary said al-Qaeda had been studying the possibilities of such attacks in India and its people had visited places like Goa, Bangalore and Amritsar.He said a dummy hand grenade was left in one of Air India's planes by mistake during an exercise Sep 26 by NSG commandos. The grenade was later found on a plane booked for Prime Minister Narendra Modi."Black Cats will remain more vigilant in the future regarding such incidents. NSG has good commandos not cleaners," he added.The NSG is a federal contingency deployment force to tackle all kinds of terrorism in the country.