Sri Lanka Tigers threat to Gandhis on poll trail: report

NEW DELHI, April 9, 2009 (AFP) - Indian security officials have warned that the ruling party's leader and her family could be targeted by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers ahead of this month's national polls, a report said.





Her son, federal MP and Congress general secretary Rahul, was slated to address rallies in southern India over the weekend, a party source said.

Last month, the home ministry boosted security for top leaders following intelligence reports that they could be targeted by Islamist militants during the five stage general polls starting April 16 and ending May 13.

The federal home ministry issued an alert this week urging a tightening of security when the Congress Party's Sonia Gandhi and her two children, already among the most highly protected public figures in India, canvass for support across the nation, the Press Trust of India agency said.

Sonia, is the widow of ex-premier Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in May 1991 during an election rally in southern Tamil Nadu state by a Sri Lankan Tamil separatist woman suicide bomber.

The alert was not specific about the nature of the threat but said Sonia and her son Rahul and daughter Priyanka could be attacked in retaliation for India not pre