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Mumbai police link Pakistan secret service to slaughter
A SENIOR Mumbai police official said the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was responsible for the terrorist attacks that left at least 174 people dead.
Amid conflicting reports about whom is responsible for the atrocity, Joint Crime Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said the attackers were from "a hardcore group in the LeT".
The group has long been seen as a creation of the Pakistani intelligence service to help to wage its clandestine war against India in disputed Kashmir.
Earlier, a United States counter-terrorism official had said some "signatures of the attack" were consistent with Lashkar and another group that has operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked to al Qaida.
Police said the only gunman captured after the string of attacks told authorities he belonged to LeT. Nine other terrorists were shot dead during the 60-hour siege.
And Rakesh Maria said Ajmal Qasab, now in custody, told police the group had intended to hit more targets during their attacks on India's financial capital.
"Ajmal Qasab has received training in a LeT training camp in Pakistan," he said. "Our interrogation indicates that the terrorists had other places that they also intended to target."
Lashkar was banned in Pakistan in 2002 under pressure from the US, a year after Washington and Britain listed it a terrorist group. It is since believed to have emerged under another name, Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
In April 2006, the US Department of State listed Jamaat-ud-Dawa as terrorist organisations for being an "alias" of Lashkar-e-Taiba but yesterday a spokesman for a Jamat-ud Dawa denied any link to Lashkar-e-Taiba and said he condemned the attack.
"We condemn the killings of civilians. We condemn such killings in a terrorist activity, and at the same time we condemn it happening in the shape of state terrorism, as we see in Srinagar, Kashmir," Abdullah Muntazir said, referring to alleged Indian army atrocities in the disputed Kashmir region.
Authorities were still removing victims bodies from the Taj Mahal hotel yesterday, a day after the siege ended.
The waterfront landmark, popular among foreign tourists and Indian high society, was surrounded by metal barricades, its shattered windows boarded over. At the famous Gateway of India basalt arch nearby, a shrine of candles, flowers and messages commemorated victims.
"We have been to two funerals already," Mumbai resident Karin Dutta said as she placed a small bouquet of white flowers for several friends killed in the hotel. "We're going to another one now."
The attacks have raised fears among US officials about a possible surge in violence between Pakistan and India. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars against each other, two over the disputed region of Kashmir.
Prime Minister Singh called a rare meeting of leaders from the country's main political parties to discuss the situation yesterday and, as officials pointed the finger at "elements in Pakistan," public ire over the government's actions widened.
"People are worried, but the key difference is anger," said Rajesh Jain, chief executive officer at a brokerage firm, Pranav Securities. "Does the government have the will, the ability to tackle the dangers we face?"
Authorities say the gunmen may have arrived in Mumbai on a trawler that was found abandoned and drifting off the coast, with a bound corpse aboard, a day after the attacks started.
The government suspects the group then transferred to a dinghy and docked at a fishermen's colony near the two hotels and Jewish centre targeted in the assaults.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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