India’s navy withdrew two warships from the eastern port of Kolkata on Tuesday after intelligence agencies warned of an attack on the port and the city, police and navy officers said.
The rare move came two days after a suicide bomber killed 60 people on the Pakistani side of the main border crossing with India hundreds of miles to the west, deepening fears that Pakistan’s internal strife was spreading into India.
Two naval warships, INS Khukri and INS Sumitra, that had docked in Kolkata on Monday were ordered back into sea for “operational reasons”, navy spokesman Captain D.K. Sharma said.
The ships were meant to be in port until Friday for public viewing as part of ceremonies in the run-up to Navy Day next month, he said.
Two officers in the control room at the police headquarters in West Bengal where Kolkata is located said they had received a message from federal intelligence agencies on Tuesday warning of the possibility of an attack on the port.
On Sunday, a bomber detonated his suicide vest near the Wagah checkpoint between India and Pakistan just as people on the Pakistani side were leaving after a daily flag-lowering ceremony by border guards.