Gunman Ajmal Amir Kamal was paid $3000 for role in Mumbai attacks

Rhys Blakely, Mumbai | December 05, 2008

THE sole Mumbai gunman to be taken alive has told police he was paid 150,000 Pakistani rupees ($2970) for his part in the attacks that killed nearly 200 people.

Rakesh Maria, the joint commissioner of Mumbai police, who is one of the interrogators questioning baby-faced gunman Ajmal Amir Kamal said police were also investigating a possible link to the US, a mobile SIM card found with the terrorists that possibly came from New Jersey.

"Nothing is confirmed, but we are looking at this and have made enquiries with mobile operators," Mr Maria said.

Indian interrogators are preparing to administer a truth serum on Kamal, the sole Islamic militant captured during last week's terror attacks on Mumbai, to settle the question of where he is from.

The controversial technique, banned in most democracies, was widely used by Western intelligence agencies during the Cold War, before it emerged that the drugs used, typically the barbiturate sodium pentothal, may induce hallucinations, delusions and psychotic manifestations.

The identity of Kamal was at the centre of a row between India and Pakistan yesterday.

Police said Kamal had identified himself as a 24-year-old Pakistani from the village of Faridkot in the southern part of the Pakistani province of Punjab.

Meanwhile, Indian officials remain under pressure to account for the lax handling of last week's crisis.

The deployment of India's elite troops to the two luxury hotels that were stormed by terrorist gunmen may have been delayed for hours by red tape that calls for a written request to be made to the Indian navy before they are dispatched.

An Indian defence spokesman based in Mumbai said standing orders demanded that a letter be sent to the Indian navy before its marine commandos - or "Marcos" - are ordered from their barracks.

The spokesman said that the paperwork was eventually sidestepped on the day of the attacks, but not until it became apparent to millions of television viewers across the world that India's commercial capital was under a massive, co-ordinated terror attack.

Despite the Marcos - regarded as the "best of the best" of India's military - being based in Mumbai, they did not reach the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels until 1.30am, about four hours after the terrorist gunmen had stormed the buildings.

By that stage the militants had consolidated their positions and trapped hundreds of staff and guests.

According to a deputy police commissioner in Mumbai and one of Kamal's interrogators, the 10 gunmen had been chosen from a group of 24 that had gone through the same extensive training, overseen by an ex-army officer.

They were prepared by being shown violent footage from Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

According to Indian police, evidence of a Pakistan link also includes grenades found on the gunmen, which were manufactured in Pakistan, and satellite phone calls from a handset used by the militants.

Indian investigators said 8kg of explosives had been found in a bag in Mumbai's main railway station, where Kamal and an accomplice killed 56 people a week ago.

Source: The Australian

Massacre in Mumbai: Up to SEVEN gunmen were British and 'came from same area as 7/7 bombers'

By Justin Davenport, Rashid Razaq and Nicola Boden

British-born Pakistanis among arrested militants

Commandos storm strongholds to rescue hostages
Siege continues at Taj hotel as bystanders wounded

Death toll rises as another 24 bodies found in hotel
At least five dead hostages found in Jewish Centre

British-born Pakistanis were among the Mumbai terrorists, Indian government sources claimed today, as the death toll rose to at least 155.

As many as seven of the terrorists may have British connections and some could be from Leeds and Bradford where London's July 7 bombers lived, one source said.

Two Britons were among eight gunmen being held, according to Mumbai's chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. At least nine others are reportedly dead.

The eight arrested were captured by commandos after they stormed two hotels and a Jewish centre to free hostages today. Despite the Indian authorities' assurances that the situation was under control, the siege continued at the Taj Mahal hotel and explosions could still be heard in central Mumbai.

One security official said: 'There is growing concern about British involvement in the attacks.'

But Gordon Brown has urged caution. He emerged from a conversation with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to say there was no suggestion of a British link.

'At no point has the prime minister of India suggested to me that there is evidence at this stage of any terrorist of British origins, but obviously these are huge investigations that are being done and I think it will be premature to draw any conclusions at all,' Mr Brown said.

Calm: One of the young gunmen with his weapon, looking for more victims. Indian authorities say two of the arrested militants were British-born Pakistanis

Loss: Bollywood actor Ashish Chaudhary is consoled outside Mumbai's Trident-Oberoi Hotel after learning about his sister's death
Gone: US citizen Alan Scherr and daughter Naomi, pictured with his wife Kia, were killed in Mumbai's Oberoi hotel. They were in India with religious group Synchronicity Foundation, which was hosting a meditation program at the hotel

Senior Whitehall sources said it was too early to say whether there had been any involvement by British nationals but that security services, working with overseas partners, would be looking at any potential links to the UK.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith also said UK authorities had "no knowledge" of any British links with the massacre, while Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was "too early to say" whether any of the terrorists were British.

As authorities tried to piece together the identities and motivations of the attackers, special forces were still battling with gunmen.

At the five-star Taj Mahal Hotel, officers were still locked in combat with up to six militants believed to be holed up in the ballroom.

The Indian authorities thought they had ended the siege there last night after they shot dead three terrorists and released hundreds of hostages, but it raged again today.

In a major army operation, soldiers threw grenades at the walls in a bid to smoke out the militants. Four bystanders were reported wounded in the crossfire.

Mumbai officials say more than 155 people in total have now died in the attacks. Another 370 were wounded.

The tragic figures include the bodies of another five hostages who were found dead inside the Nariman House Jewish Centre this afternoon after commandos finally secured the building.

Two militants were also killed. It is not known whether the Rabbi and his wife who were believed to be among the hostages are dead or alive.

Around 20 masked officers had raided the centre this morning, dropping from helicopters onto the roof, in an operation dubbed Operation Black Tornado.
Hours of heavy fighting ensued as they moved from floor after floor. As dusk fell, there was a massive explosion and it appeared to be over.

Air rescue: A commando drops to the roof of Mumbai's Jewish centre and below, officers span out ready to storm the building

Across the city at the Oberoi Hotel, the siege ended when two militants were shot dead.

Dozens of traumatised guests emerged unharmed but inside there were scenes of carnage and the bodies of another 24 victims.

Many of those freed had been locked in their rooms, terrified, for 41 hours while the gunmen rampaged.

Today, around 100 people were rescued and struggling to absorb their ordeal. One man was clutching a tiny baby in his arms as he walked out.

British lawyer Mark Abell emerged with a beaming smile, saying: 'I'm going home, I'm going to see my wife. '

The 51-year-old told how he had spent the night listening to gunshots and explosions and communicating with the outside world on his phone and Blackberry.

Describing the scene when he was eventually led to safety, he said it was 'carnage' with 'blood and guts everywhere'.

'I was supposed to be working in Delhi but I think I have had more than my fair share of my business trip so I am looking forward to going home to see my family,' he said.

Rescued: A British man is led to safety from the Oberoi Trident Hotel today and below, another guest emerges clutching a tiny baby

A number of the hostages were airline staff still wearing their Lufthansa and Air France uniforms when they emerged from the building.

As they came out some carried luggage with Canadian flags, and two women were dressed in black abayas, traditional Muslim women's garments.

Others were not so lucky. Reported dead tonight was an American and his 13-year-old daughter as well as the wife and two children of the Taj hotel's general manager.

Foreigners from Japan, Australia, Italy and Germany and one Briton - tycoon Andreas Liveras - have already been confirmed as among the victims.

At least eight Britons were injured and there are fears the British toll could yet rise further as more and more buildings are made stable and searched.

Earlier, one commando revealed he had seen around 50 bodies littering the Taj hotel floor after special officers stormed the building and rescued hundreds of guests.

Clad in black, with a mask covering his face, the unit chief said: 'There was blood all over the bodies. The bodies were strewn here and there and we had to be careful as we entered the building to avoid further bloodshed of innocent civilians.'

The terrorists had seemed like young, ordinary men but had clearly been very well trained, he said.

'They were wearing T-shirts, just ordinary looking, but they have definitely been trained to use weapons. There is no way they could handle such weapons without being taught how to.'

Feared dead: Rabbi Gabriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka were believed to be inside the Jewish centre where the bodies of five hostages were found

At least nine terrorists are thought to have been shot dead in gun battles across the city as police and special forces tried to regain control.

Three arrested at the Taj Mahal have been officially identified as a Pakistani national and two Indians. Another is reported to be a Mauritian national.

They arrived in the city by sea before fanning out to at least 10 locations. Dinghies were found moored at a jetty by the famous Gateway to India monument.

Today, coast guard officials said they could have hijacked an Indian trawler to drop them off after finding an abandoned boat drifting near the shore.

The captain's dead body was found inside the vessel, along with communications equipment.

Dressed in jeans and T-shirts and heavily armed, they then headed for the city - which is India's financial centre - and started firing indiscriminately.

It is thought they gained entrance to the hotels by pretending to be staff and hotel guests, according to reports.

Blast: Police throw a grenade into the Taj Mahal hotel as they desperately try to smoke out up to six militants hiding in the ballroom

Indian authorities have not released any details about the two Britons and the Foreign Office has refused to confirm Indian television reports.

Security services in Britain are now examining images of the gunmen in an effort to identify them.

India's High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Mukherjee played down speculation some of the gunmen were British: 'I have seen nothing more than what is in the media and that is based on speculation. I will wait for the investigation to produce some hard facts.'

Speculation linking the attackers with Bradford was quashed by the Leeds-based Counter Terrorism Unit.

A statement from officers said: "At this stage we are not in receipt of any intelligence or information linking the events in India to our area."

A team of Scotland Yard anti-terrorist detectives and negotiators are now on their way to Mumbai to assist in the investigation.

Indian commandos have recovered credit cards and the militants' ID cards as well as seizing a vast arsenal of grenades, AK-47 magazines, shells and knives.

A previously unknown Islamic group, Deccan Mujahideen, has claimed responsibility for the attacks but terror experts believe is is linked to Al Qaeda.

It is known that dozens of British-born Pakistanis have travelled to Pakistan to train in its camps in recent years.

One security source said recently: 'The camps are full and many of the people inside are Brits.'

There has been speculation that a British Al Qaeda suspect reportedly killed by a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan last weekend may have helped plot the attacks.

Rashid Rauf was among five killed in a missile attack in a tribal area in North Waziristan on Saturday.

Security sources believe that at the time of his death Rauf had been planning a major attack on Western targets.

Met officers were also interviewing passengers returning from Mumbai as they stepped off planes at Heathrow.

There was also speculation that England cricketers could have been an intended target of the terrorists.

It emerged that some of the team had been due to stay in Mumbai, most likely the Taj Mahal, on Wednesday evening before a late decision was made to switch training to Bangalore.

Shocked player Michael Vaughan said: 'I don't know why it was switched but we could have been there in one of those hotels when they were attacked.

'All our white Test kit is in one of the rooms at the Taj Mahal hotel: All our pads and clothes for the Test series and our blazers and caps and ties. That's how close the danger is.'

The England team will fly back to Britain today.

The bloody drama which began on Wednesday night has now lasted more than two days. The targets across the city were:

The Oberoi Hotel, in the commercial district. Its restaurant was bustling with diners, many of them tourists;
Also attacked was the Leopold restaurant, a haunt of the city's art crowd. As the fanatics sprayed the packed cafe, diners fled in terror;

Some of the worst scenes were at the major railway station. As they entered the Gothic Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, once named after Queen Victoria, the gunmen were smiling. With an astonishing air of casualness, the terrorists started to shoot. Within seconds the concourse was a bloodbath. People lay screaming on the floor;

A further prestigious target was the 105-year-old Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel;

More hostages were taken at the nearby Chabad House, headquarters for an ultra-orthodox Jewish group. A rabbi was among those held.

About 15 police officers were killed, including the head of Mumbai's anti-terrorism unit.

India's prime minister Manmohan-Singh has blamed militant groups based outside the country - usually meaning Pakistan - raising fears of renewed tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals. Pakistan condemned the attacks.

The attack on the train station had echoes of previous terror outrages.

In July 2006 more than 180 people were killed in seven bomb explosions at railway stations and on trains in Mumbai that were blamed on Islamist militants.

Source: Daily Mail

Andrew Bolt: An attack on us all

Andrew Bolt | Friday, November 28, 2008 at 06:08am

THE slaughter in Mumbai was a barbaric attack not just on India, but on us. On the West.

For the first time in India, Muslim terrorists have singled out Westerners and Jews, and the places they are most likely to visit.

And that makes al-Qaida a prime suspect—either as a partner with local terrorists or prime mover.

From the gunmen’s targets, it seems that al-Qaida or associated Islamist groups may have chosen a new, easier, battleground for their war against the West.

This will change all the security thinking for next week’s Twenty20 Champions League, in which Victoria and Western Australia, were to compete, and for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

And a naive world will learn that the war on terror they’d hoped would die with the presidency of George W. Bush will be inherited by Barack Obama.

Mumbai has been hit by Islamist terrorists before, of course, but those were very different. The targets were locals, and so were the grievances.

The city’s stock exchange, trains and hotels and gas stations were attacked in 1993 by criminals and terrorists who killed 257 people to revenge the killing of Muslims by Hindu mobs.

Ten years later, 52 people were killed in car bombings apparently by Muslims fighting for control of Kashmir, and in July 2006 pro-Kashmiri Islamists bombed commuter trains and railway stations, slaughtering at least 187 more.

But this is dangerously different.

Most of the buildings the young gunmen stormed were places tourists would use or know.

There’s the five-star Oberoi and the Taj Mahal Hotel, right next to the iconic Gateway of India.

Also attacked were the main railway station and the exclusive Leopold Cafe, popular with foreigners and the rich, and the place where Australian Kate Anstee was shot in the leg.

Explosions have also been reported near the domestic airport.

Even more telling was that the terrorists reportedly took over Nariman House, a residential complex owned by Jews that contained a Jewish prayer hall and the local office of the Chabad movement.

Also different this time was the taking of hostages.

Again, they were mainly Westerners. British witness Ashok Patel said the terrorists at the Taj Mahal shouted out: “Who has US or UK passports?”, and guests at the Oberoi said the terrorists there also singled out Americans and Britons for hostages.

Chabad officials feared that their Mumbai emissary, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, was also being held at gunpoint at Nariman House.

In a way, it’s pointless trying to decide exactly which Islamist group this time is formally responsible.

It may be the “Deccan Mujahideen”, which contacted Indian media outlets to take the bloody credit, but nothing is known of a group with this studiously local name, and first-timers are unlikely to have the men, organisation, experience, cash or fire-power to launch a co-ordinated strike like this on a dozen targets.

The “Deccan Mujahidin” may just be the latest incarnation of another mysterious group, the “Indian Mujahideen”, which boasted of carrying out the bombings in Delhi in September, which killed 20 people, and in Ahmedabad in July, which killed 45. But did they, too, have the resources it took to launch this attack?

The names of these outfits may shift, but it’s just a rebadging of the same kind of people inspired by the same ideology. And more telling than their temporary names are the deeds.

True, one of the terrorists in the Oberoi rang India TV to say he belonged to an Indian Islamist group wanting to end persecution of India’s Muslims, and demanding: “We want all mujahidins held in India released.”

But the attacks themselves point to another, more specific agenda as well.

It’s India’s links to the West that were attacked—its hotels, foreigners, Jews, and rail and airport links.

The aim, as with the al-Qaida-linked bombings in Hindu Bali, seems to be to split the country from the West. This would make it part of the Islamists’ global war against the West and its freedoms—a war driven by a deadly amalgam of religion and politics.

Some may see this latest horror as proof that US President George Bush has failed against the war in self-defence he launched after the 9/11 attacks of 2001, and Obama must choose more peaceful ways.

But terrible though they are, these killings are an aberration. The trend in recent years has been for fewer terrorist attacks around the world, even in Iraq, where al-Qaida has been mauled. Since 2001, Islamists have not managed one successful attack on the US. Britain has foiled every big terrorist plot since 2005.

Shambolic India was always an easier target, but one only for the desperate. And for this to be first in there against the West shows how small the appeal of jihad is even in a nation with 150 million Muslims.

Indeed, the Pew Research Centre has polled a dramatic drop in support among Muslims around the world for violent jihad and al-Qaida since 2002.

This is the struggle Obama inherits, and it will not end until Islamists horrify enough fellow Muslims by their pointless slaughter - and until Bush’s dream is fulfilled, and Muslim nations share our love for the freedom now under such savage attack in Mumbai.

Source: Herald Sun

Update: Indian commandos battle Islamist gunmen, over 100 dead

Flames and smoke gush out of the historic Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. Indian
army commandos were Thursday battling heavily-armed Islamist gunmen who
launched coordinated attacks against luxury hotels and other targets in
Mumbai, killing at least 100 people.

By Phil Hazlewood

Indian army commandos were Thursday battling heavily-armed Islamist gunmen who launched coordinated attacks against luxury hotels and other targets in Mumbai, killing at least 100 people.

Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy said troops were fighting their way through the city's famous Taj Mahal hotel. The attackers were also still believed to be holding hostages in another hotel and an office-residential complex.

Gunmen from the little-known Deccan Mujahedeen group, who claimed responsibility for the attacks, exchanged fire with commandos and explosions could be heard, AFP photographers and reporters on scene said.

Americans, Israelis and Canadians are thought to be among those trapped in the two hotels and in Nariman House, a residential complex with an old Jewish prayer hall where a rabbi and his family were also being held.

"No negotiations or talks have started with the terrorists," Maharashtra state deputy chief minister R.R. Patil told reporters.

Television signals to both hotels have been switched off to prevent the hostage takers getting wind of any operations to storm the buildings, he added.

Eight other locations, including Mumbai's main train station, a hospital and a popular restaurant, were hit late Wednesday. The gunmen reportedly landed in Mumbai by boat.

One of the gunmen holed up in the Trident Hotel told the India TV channel by phone that they wanted an end to the persecution of Indian Muslims and the release of all fellow Islamic militants detained in India.

"Muslims in India should not be persecuted. We love this as our country but when our mothers and sisters were being killed, where was everybody?" he said from inside.

Police said around 100 people were killed in the precisely targeted assaults by small groups of gunmen armed with AK-47s and grenades that began around 10:30 pm (1700 GMT).

Up to 300 other people were also reported wounded.

A Briton, Japanese and Australian were confirmed dead, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

Frequent bursts of gunfire in and around the two five-star hotels continued to be heard through Thursday morning, as south Mumbai, including the normally thriving main business hub between the two scenes, was shut down.

The main Bombay Stock Exchange, itself hit by a terror attack in 1993, was also closed, as were shops, schools and businesses.

An official told AFP that the England cricket team had decided to abandon their tour of India and return home following the attacks.

Army commandos stormed the Taj under the cover of night, apparently leading to the release of some guests inside, with television footage showing people being shepherded out of the building.

Shortly afterwards, the upper floors of the hotel became engulfed in flames.

Fire engines were brought in to rescue trapped guests through the windows of their rooms, where they had sought refuge from the shooting.

Earlier, several men stormed the passenger hall of Mumbai's main Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, firing indiscriminately and throwing grenades.

Firing was also reported at Cama Hospital in south Mumbai, and three people were reported killed in what police called a "bomb blast" in a taxi in the southeast of the city.

One British guest at the Taj, Rakesh Patel, was among a dozen people herded together by two heavily-armed men and taken to the hotel's upper floors.

"They were very young, like boys really, wearing jeans and T-shirts," he said.

"They said they wanted anyone with British and American passports and then they took us up the stairs. I think they wanted to take us to the roof," he said, adding that he and another hostage managed to escape on the 18th floor.

British businessman Alex Chamberlain told the Sky News television that similar national profiling had been conducted by the gunmen in the Oberoi.

"They told everybody to stop and put their hands up and asked if there were any British or Americans. My friend said to me, 'don't be a hero, don't say you are British'," Chamberlain said.

Indian President Pratibha Patil, in Vietnam on an official visit, described the attack as "the work of those who have no regard for human life."

The United States and Britain led global condemnation, with Washington describing the attacks as "horrific", and US president-elect Barack Obama pledging to work with India to "root out and destroy terrorist networks".

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the "outrageous" attacks would be met with a "vigorous response".

India has witnessed a wave of coordinated attacks in recent months.

A little-known Islamic group, the Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahedeen, claimed responsibility for serial blasts last month in India's northeast state of Assam that claimed nearly 80 lives.

Six weeks earlier, the capital New Delhi had been hit by a series of bombs in crowded markets that left more than 20 dead. Those blasts were claimed by a group calling itself the Indian Mujahedeen.

Source: France 24Indian Mujahedeen
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