Israel lifts India travel warning, urges tourists to stay vigilant
Counter-Terrorism Bureau says likelihood of jihadist attacks in or around Goa dissipated after New Year’s Day
The Counter-Terrorism Bureau has lifted its travel advisory for Israelis visiting India, but urged nationals to remain vigilant while visiting the country.
A new advisory issued Wednesday said the “concrete threat” of jihadist terror attacks on tourist hot spots dissipated in the wake of operations by local security forces after New Year’s Day.
The bureau still urged Israelis to practice caution and remain vigilant while in India.
The December 30 warning issued a “concrete basic threat” for areas popular with Western tourists, with the alert at its highest in the southwest state of Goa and adjacent states.
The advisory urged Israelis to avoid beach parties and nightclubs with a high concentration of tourists, as well as busy markets, festivals and shopping centers.
Over the holiday weekend, many European cities employed additional security measures, fearing potential jihadist attacks on New Year’s festivities.
On New Year’s Day, a gunman opened fire in an Istanbul nightclub, killing 39 party-goers celebrating the start of 2017.
The majority of the victims in the Islamic State-claimed attack on the Reina nightclub were tourists including citizens from Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Tunisia and Morocco.
After the massacre, the assailant slipped into the night and remains on the run.
On Wednesday, Turkish officials released pictures of the suspected gunman, and said efforts to apprehend the attacker had intensified.
So far, 16 people are being held over the attack, including two foreigners detained by Turkish police at Istanbul’s main airport.
“Efforts to capture him continue,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkish media on Wednesday, adding that the house the suspect lived in “has been searched” and that the attack he mounted had been “professionally” planned.
Turkey has been rocked by violence in the past year, carried out by IS as well as by Kurdish militants. The government survived a failed coup in the summer and is fighting Kurdish insurgents.
