Security has been tightened at Kathmandu’s international airport after reports that al Qaeda members planned to hijack a plane and fly it into one of three targets in India: the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, the Indian prime minister’s office or his home. Kathmandu’s airport seems an obvious target for a hijacking in light of the December 1999 incident when Kashmiri militants hijacked a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi and took it to Kandahar, Afghanistan. At the time, airport security was revealed to be woefully inadequate but improvements were slowly made. The recent actions suggest that security has been enhanced and breakdowns are less likely.
