GO AHEAD, I DARE YA! BLOW IT UP, AND I'LL FIRE YOUR ASS!!!
Posted on 08/18/2006 6:13:25 AM PDT by presidio9
Police in northern India have heightened security around the Taj Mahal after receiving a letter threatening to blow up the monument, officials said Friday.
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Sandbag bunkers have been set up outside the towering entrance gates leading to the 17th century monument and soldiers belonging to an anti-terrorist squad have been posted on 24-hour duty, said Ashok Kumar, a senior government official in Uttar Pradesh state where the Taj Mahal is located.
Police were investigating a handwritten letter purportedly sent by an al-Qaida supporter, saying the terrorist group planned to carry out blasts at the Taj Mahal.
Police were skeptical about the letter, but had begun investigations, Kumar said Friday.
"Police are verifying the source of the letter," he said. "The letter could be false but we cannot afford to be complacent. We are not taking any chances and have enhanced security at the Taj."
"The letter, signed by someone calling himself Mohammed Mirza and claiming to be associated with the al-Qaida, was received at the office of the superintendent of police in Agra on Thursday," Kumar said.
"The letter said the al-Qaida had plans to carry out blasts at the Taj Mahal and around busy markets of Agra," he said.
Meanwhile, as part of the new security drill, tourists have been warned not to carry any liquids, including bottles of mineral water, to the fabled white marble structure, located in the city of Agra, 130 milesfrom the Indian capital, New Delhi.
At least 100 additional paramilitary soldiers armed with automatic weapons have been posted at strategic points on the outer periphery of the Taj Mahal complex, said a top police officer.
Police have also begun work on a dossier of residents living within 500 meters (yards) radius of the monument, said Dipesh Juneja, superintendent of police in Agra. "This will help the police spot any new entrants or visitors to the area," Juneja said over telephone.
As part of special security arrangements for the monument, the state government has asked the federal civil aviation authorities and India's air force to declare a no-fly zone over a four 2.5-mile radius around the Taj Mahal, said N. C. Bajpei, Uttar Pradesh's topmost official.
The majestic domed monument was built by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jehan between 1632 and 1654 for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It houses their graves and a mosque, as well as several other graves of lesser Mogul royalty.
Nearly 2.5 million tourists visited the Taj Mahal last year, according to official estimates.
Wrong target, the Taj is nor the normal thing with a slammite mosque built over top of somebody elses temple or church or synagogue, and it was made as a memorial to a woman and not as a devil-worship/I-slam religious site. Hindus should simple put some sort of a big sign saying "Hindu Temple" over the gate to the Taj.
I'm sure he got very sweaty and took quite a while. ;-)
Of course, it seems that most times guys try to have great tributes built, the lady in question expires before completion (e.g., Boldt Castle)..if not already gone (e.g., the Taj Mahal). Too bad they don't get to enjoy them while alive!
Letters are now making threats? I sure miss the days when all they did was sponsor Sesame Street episodes.
"Or because the Taj Mahal is one of the finest examples of Islamic art?"
"Though some attribute the design to Geronimo Verroneo, an Italian in the Mughal service, evidence suggests that it was designed by Ustad Isa Khan Effendi, a Persian, who assigned the detailed work to his pupil Ustad Ahmad."
There may or may not have been a Hindu temple on the site at one time, but the Taj Mahal was built new in the 1630s.
Well yeah, as long as she was dead.
GO AHEAD, I DARE YA! BLOW IT UP, AND I'LL FIRE YOUR ASS!!!
No comment needed.
Most of India's recent terrorist attacks have been perpetrated by the Marxists there. Why is Al Queda suddenly interested?
They want to destroy beauty and cherish ugliness.
;)
Alternatively, can the same result be achieved with a single Daisy Cutter ?
I've never known AQ to announce their plans
You'd think they'd claim it as a mosque.
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