This is like shutting down "The World Headquarter." We are getting close, very close. It must be pursued. To have NATO, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan all on the same side with the same intent at the same time, rather than fracturing into 'sovereignty only issues' is too good to be true. When they don't work together for the sake of maintaining 'the status quo' the terrorist networks win and thrive.
...A HOAX caller claiming to be India's foreign minister threatened Pakistan's president with war during the final hours of the Mumbai attacks, prompting Pakistan to put its air force on its highest alert for nearly 24 hours, according to a news report.
The report in Pakistan's English-language newspaper Dawn on Saturday underscored the volatile atmosphere between the nuclear-armed neighbours during the 60-hour rampage by gunmen in Mumbai less than a fortnight ago.
India's Ministry of External Affairs responded to the report by issuing a statement expressing concern "that a neighbouring state might even consider acting on the basis of such a hoax call".
It accused Pakistan of trying to "divert attention from the fact of an attack on India from Pakistani territory by elements in Pakistan"....(click here)
Lashkar-e-Taiba had its origins in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan. It is the province the USA believes Osama bin Laden calls home. It is also the place where fighting continues through the winter in Afghanistan with the Taliban. The 'idea' that all these attacks are stemming from the same 'circle' of terrorists is correct. This attack was as much based in 'al Qaeda authority' as any other.
Lashkar-e-Taiba now operates out of Lahore, Pakistan.
...However, before we consider how the world will approach Pakistan (click here), we must take a look at what kind of evidence the Indians will present to Pakistan. Unfortunately, the truth is that India is throwing out hints of aggressive action before concluding the process of putting together all the evidence. The latest finding that domestic Indian terrorists could be involved in the Mumbai attack should change the Indian approach to the matter. Pakistan’s stance has been that if the spoor leads to Pakistan it could only be to the “non-state actors”, and that India should not rule out its own “non state actors”. The latest news from India tends to point to a cooperative approach rather than confrontation....
continued...
December 10, 2008
Mumbai terrorists 'part of a larger group' (click here)
The 10 men known to have carried out the Mumbai terror attacks were part of a larger cadre of 30 who were given military training on how to conduct a suicide mission, according to police.
"Another 20 were ready to die," Mumbai Police Deputy Commissioner Deven Bharti said. "This is the very disturbing part of it," he told the New York Times.
The whereabouts of the 20 other men are unknown....
...Leaders from Lashkar-e-Taiba picked out Kasab and the nine other Mumbai gunmen some months before the attacks. The chosen militants were then divided into five two-man teams, each of which was assigned a target in Mumbai. Each team was forbidden from sharing the information about their target with the others and never saw the other 20 trainees again, according to police.
Each of the 10 gunmen was armed with about a dozen grenades, a 9 mm pistol with two magazines, one AK-47 assault rifle with about seven magazines and 100-150 rounds of ammunition, police said....
Two senior Lashkar members arrested: Pakistani PM (click here)
59 minutes ago
MULTAN, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistan has arrested two senior members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group considered the prime suspect in the Mumbai attacks, the country's prime minister said Wednesday.
"The two have been arrested and an investigation is under way," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told journalists in response to a question about Lashkar members Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah.
Gilani said the two, who are both senior members of the banned Islamist group, were being questioned.
Indian media have said the sole surviving Mumbai attacker named Lakhvi as one of the planners of the devastating siege on India's financial capital.
Under intense international pressure, Pakistan launched a major operation over the weekend against militant organisations in the country, raiding a camp in Kashmir run by a charity linked to Lashkar and arresting 15 people....
The good news is they still seem limited to a ground assault. Should that be the best news of the day?
Just ten trained terrorists caused carnage (click here)
By Andrew Buncombe in Mumbai and Jonathan Owen
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Mumbai's ordeal ends after three days with 200 dead – and the Indian authorities piecing together how a small unit of Islamist fanatics were able to mount such terrible attacks
Mumbai's 60 hours of terror were the work of a small team of professionally trained "commando killers", who spent weeks planning their atrocities, according to initial evidence emerging here yesterday.
Officials said they believe the terrorists who carried out attacks that left almost 200 people dead, and who held off the security forces for three days, may have numbered as few as 10. Only one – apparently a Pakistani national identified as Mohammed Ajmal Qasam by a senior Indian official – was captured alive. And a report claimed that, under interrogation, he told officials that he and his colleagues wanted to carry out "India's 9/11" – a title that local television channels have already attached to this week's events. Other reports said the men were linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group that has fought Indian forces in disputed Kashmir and was blamed for a 2001 attack on India's parliament....
Description: A black AK-47 rifle, placed against a yellow sun in the center, protrudes vertically from an open, green Koran. Above the rifle, in black, is a semi-circular Koranic phrase which translates: "And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah." These images are set against a light blue background. Below the Koran is white lettering against a red background; it bears the group's original name: Markaz al-Dawa wa al-Irshad (the Center for Preaching and Guidance).
Explanation: The Koran signifies the centrality of Islam to Lashkar-e-Taiba's ideology; green is also Islam's traditional color. The blue background represents Allah's mercy and the sun symbolizes wisdom and virtue. The rifle's placement above the Koran, and the inscription above, denote the organization's belief that violent jihad will establish a society based on Islamic precepts. The red on the bottom is a symbol of strength and violence.
