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This just came out about an hour ago: (Pakistan Daily Times)

Airports security beefed up

By Hasan Mansoor

KARACHI: The aviation authorities on Saturday declared a red alert at all airports across the country, which officials said was “a routine practice exercised ahead of Muharram every year”.

“There is no specific threat,” said a senior Airport Security Force official (ASF), who wished not to be named. “We have followed orders from senior officials.”

Keeping in mind the sensitivities surrounding the first Islamic month, the authorities had ordered that security arrangements be intensified at all airports in Pakistan, according to the official.

The official said visitors’ passes were cancelled at the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport. Sources said a 72-hour alert had been ordered to thwart possible terrorism. “There will be high alert at airports for the next four days,” the official said.

Special commandos and officials from the ASF are keeping tight vigil at the airports, and luggage and passenger searches have been intensified, the official said.

The Crisis Control Centre, which was closed after the coalition forces completed major combat operations in Afghanistan, has been opened again. The official did not say whether security measures were strengthened after any specific threats were received from terror groups, including Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.

Thousands of Pakistani military and paramilitary troops have launched a manhunt for Al Qaeda operatives in the country’s semi-autonomous tribal region of South Waziristan.