The US warned India last month of a pending raid by a Pakistan-based militant group it emerged yesterday, a revelation that will add to public anger over apparent security lapses and missed chances to stop the attack on Mumbai.Although the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined yesterday to comment on intelligence shared with allies round the world, a serving intelligence source confirmed to the Guardian that a warning had been passed to Indian counterparts.ABC News also quoted a US intelligence officer saying the warning had been specific, of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centres in Mumbai". The terrorists used boats to land on Mumbai's waterfront before attacking multiple targets which killed 183 people and led India to endure a four-day national nightmare.Indian intelligence sources told NDTV news yesterday they had issued several warnings about a strike on Mumbai. The latest was issued eight days before the attack, warning that the "sea wing" of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group accused by India of being behind the attack, was planning to target Mumbai.India's navy said a "systemic failure" of security and intelligence services led to the attacks in Mumbai, the Press Trust of India reported.
The US warned India last month of a pending raid by a Pakistan-based militant group it emerged yesterday, a revelation that will add to public anger over apparent security lapses and missed chances to stop the attack on Mumbai.
Although the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined yesterday to comment on intelligence shared with allies round the world, a serving intelligence source confirmed to the Guardian that a warning had been passed to Indian counterparts.
ABC News also quoted a US intelligence officer saying the warning had been specific, of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centres in Mumbai". The terrorists used boats to land on Mumbai's waterfront before attacking multiple targets which killed 183 people and led India to endure a four-day national nightmare.
Indian intelligence sources told NDTV news yesterday they had issued several warnings about a strike on Mumbai. The latest was issued eight days before the attack, warning that the "sea wing" of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group accused by India of being behind the attack, was planning to target Mumbai.
India's navy said a "systemic failure" of security and intelligence services led to the attacks in Mumbai, the Press Trust of India reported.
It's 9/11 all over again. Any guesses as to which uninvolved country they attack after picking a fight with Pakistan? The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: Pakistan urged India on Tuesday to provide credible information about people named in a list, provided to Islamabad, of suspects allegedly involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks. A senior interior ministry official said the list was the same which New Delhi had been providing for several years and contained names of Pakistanis and Indian nationals. He said Pakistan had repeatedly told India that some of these people were not in Pakistan and that solid evidence was needed for taking action against those who were in the country. The list included the name of an Indian national and an alleged gangster Dawood Ibrahim, founder of militant organisation Jaish-i-Mohammad Maulana Masood Azhar, founder of another banned militant outfit Lashkar-i-Tayba Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, some Sikh Indian nationals who were allegedly involved in an abortive secessionist movement and said to be hiding in Pakistan.
Pakistan would do a lot to reduce tensions with India if it did the right thing and cracked down on Lashkar-e-Taiba. Whether or not they were behind the Mumbai attack (and I gather the probability is high that they were), the Pakistani government has already banned them, and they have admitted to the attacks on the Indian Parliament in 2001. It would be a show of good faith to India. The question is, does Zardari have enough real power to crack down on L-e-T even if he wanted to? Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
India has accused a senior leader of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of orchestrating last week's terror attacks that killed at least 172 people here, and demanded the Pakistani government turn him over and take action against the group. Just two days before hitting the city, the group of 10 terrorists who ravaged India's financial capital communicated with Yusuf Muzammil and four other Lashkar leaders via a satellite phone that they left behind on a fishing trawler they hijacked to get to Mumbai, a senior Mumbai police official told The Wall Street Journal. The entire group also underwent rigorous training in a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, the official said. Mr. Muzammil had earlier been in touch with an Indian Muslim extremist who scoped out Mumbai locations for possible attack before he was arrested early this year, said another senior Indian police official. The Indian man, Faheem Ahmed Ansari, had in his possession layouts drawn up for the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel and Mumbai's main railway station, both prime targets of last week's attack, the police official said. Mr. Ansari, who also made sketches and maps of locations in southern Mumbai that weren't attacked, had met Mr. Muzammil and trained at the same Lashkar camp as the terrorists in last week's attack, an official said.
India has accused a senior leader of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of orchestrating last week's terror attacks that killed at least 172 people here, and demanded the Pakistani government turn him over and take action against the group.
Just two days before hitting the city, the group of 10 terrorists who ravaged India's financial capital communicated with Yusuf Muzammil and four other Lashkar leaders via a satellite phone that they left behind on a fishing trawler they hijacked to get to Mumbai, a senior Mumbai police official told The Wall Street Journal. The entire group also underwent rigorous training in a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, the official said.
Mr. Muzammil had earlier been in touch with an Indian Muslim extremist who scoped out Mumbai locations for possible attack before he was arrested early this year, said another senior Indian police official. The Indian man, Faheem Ahmed Ansari, had in his possession layouts drawn up for the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel and Mumbai's main railway station, both prime targets of last week's attack, the police official said.
Mr. Ansari, who also made sketches and maps of locations in southern Mumbai that weren't attacked, had met Mr. Muzammil and trained at the same Lashkar camp as the terrorists in last week's attack, an official said.
