Mumbai Terror Attack Jihadi Executed By India, Pakistani Taliban Shocked That a Muslim "hanged on Indian soil"

One of the Pakistani-based Islamic terrorists from the terror group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was executed by hanging today in India as punishment for his role in the mass murder of Indian citizens back in 2008.

The Taliban in Pakistan are taking the news hard.  The poor babies are shocked, I tells ya!

From the report from DAWN:

Meanwhile, The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) expressed shock on Wednesday over Kasab’s execution.

“There is no doubt that it’s very shocking news and a big loss that a Muslim has been hanged on Indian soil,” Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters.

I'm eager for a photo of the hanging - it would be so nice to be able to put up a photo of a Pakistani Muslim swinging high over the soil of India ...I'm sure all of the Pakistani jihadis who come to this site would enjoy seeing that.  I'm thinking the title of the post might be "Indian Hindus Hang Muslim Mujahideen in Disgrace."

Yeah, that outta work.

LeT says Kasab execution will “inspire” more attacks; TTP “shocked”


ISLAMABAD: Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, executed in India on Wednesday for his role in the 2008 Mumbai massacre, was a “hero” who will inspire more attacks, a senior commander of the militant group accused of masterminding the attack told news agency Reuters.

“He was a hero and will inspire other fighters to follow his path,” the commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Meanwhile, The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) expressed shock on Wednesday over Kasab’s execution.

“There is no doubt that it’s very shocking news and a big loss that a Muslim has been hanged on Indian soil,” Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters.

Report: Lashkar-e-Taiba Terrorists Who Pulled Off Mumbai Massacre Were Trained By Al Qaeda

Indian investigators are uncovering more and more details of the Mumbai massacre that shocked the entire world when Lashkar-e-Taiba jihadis infiltrated India and spread their death across the city of Mumbai.  The newest revelation is that those attackers were actually trained by al Qaeda and it looks more and more like the training took place in Afghanistan.

From the article at The Long War Journal:

Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, the alleged facilitator of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, has proven to be a "treasure trove of information" for Indian investigators, according to new reports in the Indian press. Ansari has reportedly revealed that al Qaeda was tasked with training the Mumbai attackers in a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) training camp close to the Pakistan-Iran border.

It is not entirely clear where the camp was located, as Ansari has been unable to pinpoint its location for investigators. But according to at least one article, the LeT camp was inside Afghanistan. LeT terrorists are known to operate in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Ansari (a.k.a. Abu Jundal) was captured inside Saudi Arabia and then transferred to Indian custody in June. [See LWJ report, Key Mumbai plotter arrested in Saudi Arabia.]

The Deccan Chronicle reports that Ansari's interrogation reports say he has explained that there is a "great degree of coordination now between Lashkar, Al Qaeda and even the Taliban."

LeT reportedly called in al Qaeda to train its operatives because it was convinced that the organization could do a better job of preparing them for the Mumbai siege. Although 22 to 25 operatives were initially selected for the training, only 10 were able to complete it.

"Had all the 25 militants completed the training and made it to Mumbai the carnage would have been much worse," a senior Indian official told the Deccan Chronicle.

This report and this investigation of this new canary shows just how evil and coordinated the enemy to the West truly is - we see this unholy alliance here between al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Taliban.  This is the kind of coordination that the likes of the Obama administration has been telling us has been dissolved.  Remember when Joe Biden said that there were only 100 al Qaeda left in Afghanistan?  Well, Joe, it looks like 50% of the al Qaeda in Afghanistan must be in the training business.

Damn fools are gonna get us killed.

Report: Al Qaeda trained Mumbai attackers


Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, the alleged facilitator of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, has proven to be a "treasure trove of information" for Indian investigators, according to new reports in the Indian press. Ansari has reportedly revealed that al Qaeda was tasked with training the Mumbai attackers in a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) training camp close to the Pakistan-Iran border.

It is not entirely clear where the camp was located, as Ansari has been unable to pinpoint its location for investigators. But according to at least one article, the LeT camp was inside Afghanistan. LeT terrorists are known to operate in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Ansari (a.k.a. Abu Jundal) was captured inside Saudi Arabia and then transferred to Indian custody in June. [See LWJ report, Key Mumbai plotter arrested in Saudi Arabia.]

The Deccan Chronicle reports that Ansari's interrogation reports say he has explained that there is a "great degree of coordination now between Lashkar, Al Qaeda and even the Taliban."

LeT reportedly called in al Qaeda to train its operatives because it was convinced that the organization could do a better job of preparing them for the Mumbai siege. Although 22 to 25 operatives were initially selected for the training, only 10 were able to complete it.

"Had all the 25 militants completed the training and made it to Mumbai the carnage would have been much worse," a senior Indian official told the Deccan Chronicle.

Bin Laden's documents

This is not the first time al Qaeda has been linked to the Mumbai attacks. Documents recovered in Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad, Pakistan safe house reportedly show that the deceased al Qaeda master may have played a role in the plot. [See LWJ article, Report: Osama bin Laden helped plan Mumbai attacks.]

The Hindustan Times previously reported that bin Laden was in close contact with Hafiz Saeed, the wanted LeT chief. Citing Bruce Riedel, a former advisor to President Obama on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Hindustan Times said bin Laden's documents prove the extensive relationship between al Qaeda's deceased emir and LeT.

"The documents and files found in Abbottabad showed a close connection between Bin Laden and Saeed, right up to May 2011," Riedel told the Hindustan Times. Riedel added that the captured files "suggested a much larger direct al Qaeda role in the planning of the Mumbai attacks than many assumed," and said bin Laden may have seen surveillance reports prepared by David Headley, the LeT operative who scouted out locations for the Mumbai siege.

The revelation of Hafiz Saeed's ties to bin Laden also reportedly led the US to offer a $10 million bounty for the LeT chieftain in April. The relationship between Saeed and bin Laden is hardly surprising as al Qaeda and LeT have cooperated with one another since the 1990s. Bin Laden is also said to have played a direct role in LeT's founding.

Still another al Qaeda link to the Mumbai attacks may be found in Ilyas Kashmiri's role. Kashmiri reportedly took part in planning the operation. Kashmiri, a longtime commander in another al Qaeda-allied terrorist group, Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI), played a prominent role inside al Qaeda prior to his demise in 2011. Kashmiri was the head of Lashkar al Zil, or al Qaeda's Shadow Army, which operates in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Kashmiri was also tasked with plotting attacks against Western and other targets. In January 2010, a US federal grand jury indicted Kashmiri for plotting to attack the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Denmark for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

One of Kashmiri's co-conspirators in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper plot was David Headley. It was Headley who performed surveillance on the targets selected for the Mumbai attacks. And it was Headley's surveillance reports that may very well have ended up in bin Laden's hands.

Tension over Pakistan's role

Indian investigators are questioning Ansari about not only LeT's ties to al Qaeda, but also about LeT's ties to Pakistan's military and intelligence establishment. At least two Pakistani army officers have been connected to the plot and to Headley. One of them gave Headley the cash used to perform the surveillance in Mumbai.

The LeT has long been a Pakistani proxy. LeT chieftain Hafiz Saeed is protected by Pakistan to this day, even though there is a large bounty on his head.

Indian authorities say that, based on Ansari's interrogations, Saeed may have even been inside a "control room" in Karachi that was used to coordinate the Mumbai attacks.

Ansari's "interrogations now prove beyond doubt the existence of such a control room," India's home minister P. Chidambaram told reporters last week. "Such a control room could not have been established without some kind of a state support."

Report: Osama bin Laden helped plan Mumbai attacks

This is pretty shocking, quite frankly, as most experts had not tied al Qaeda to any part of the Mumbai terror attacks. This changes a lot of things, even though Bin Laden is dead.

The bottom line is this...if al Qaeda was in cahoots with Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan in regards to the Mumbai attacks, who is al Qaeda in cahoots with right now that we don't know about and where?

The story is from The Long War Journal.

Report: Osama bin Laden helped plan Mumbai attacks


Osama bin Laden was in close contact with Hafiz Saeed, the wanted chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and helped plan the 2008 Mumbai attack, according to a report in the Hindustan Times. Citing Bruce Riedel, a former advisor to President Obama on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Hindustan Times says that documents recovered in bin Laden's Pakistani safe house prove the extensive relationship between al Qaeda's deceased emir and LeT.

"The documents and files found in Abbottabad showed a close connection between Bin Laden and Saeed, right up to May 2011," Riedel told the newspaper. Riedel added that the captured files "suggested a much larger direct al Qaeda role in the planning of the Mumbai attacks than many assumed" and bin Laden may have seen surveillance reports prepared by David Headley, the LeT operative who scouted out locations for the Mumbai siege.

The revelation of Hafiz Saeed's ties to bin Laden led the US to offer a $10 million bounty for the LeT chieftain, according to the report. [For more on the reward, see LWJ report, US offers $10 million bounty for capture of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed.]

Such collusion would hardly be surprising. Al Qaeda and LeT have had a strong relationship for more than two decades. Abdullah Azzam, a mentor to bin Laden and co-founder of Maktab al Khadamat, a forerunner to al Qaeda, also helped found the LeT organization. In more recent years, the LeT's network helped al Qaeda operatives flee Afghanistan in late 2001 and early 2002 after the fall of the Taliban. Al Qaeda terrorists have trained in LeT camps, and LeT members have fought alongside al Qaeda and the Taliban against Coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Ilyas Kashmiri, who helped plan the 2008 Mumbai assault, worked for multiple organizations during his tenure, including al Qaeda, LeT, and Harakat ul Jihad al Islami (HUJI). Headley answered to Kashmiri, who was reportedly killed in a June 2011 drone strike, as well as two other handlers in Pakistan.

Documents raise new questions

Assuming bin Laden's files show what has been reported, the documents raise new questions about the former al Qaeda master's ties to elements of Pakistan's military and intelligence establishment.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is a longtime Pakistani proxy that works closely with, and under the direction of, the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. The ISI used LeT to wage a proxy war against Indian forces in Kashmir during the 1990s. LeT head Hafiz Saeed has long received the ISI's protection and backing, even after the Mumbai attacks drew international condemnation. Saeed has frequently been detained as a show of cooperation by Pakistani authorities, only to be released and then quickly returned to his terrorist business.

Saeed is so close to the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment that, according to Press Trust of India, he condemned the recent reward offered by the US during a press conference held at the "Flashman Hotel in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, located a short distance from the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters."

"I am not hiding in caves and mountains, I am here in Rawalpindi," Saeed told those in attendance. Saeed challenged the US to kill him in the same manner as Osama bin Laden.

If Osama bin Laden was in regular contact with Saeed up until his demise at the hands of Navy Seals in May 2011, it is difficult to believe that members of the ISI did not know about it.

During an American trial of one of his co-conspirators last year, Headley testified that two ISI-connected handlers worked with him in the plot. Sajid Mir and a man known as Major Iqbal both worked with and directed Headley throughout his missions.

Intercepted phone calls show that Mir directed the Mumbai attackers. Mir's ties to the ISI were discussed at length in an exhaustive study of the Mumbai siege prepared by Sebastian Rotella for ProPublica and the Washington Post.

Rotella reported that Jean-Louis Bruguiere, a French judge who is renowned for his counterterrorism work, investigated the LeT's operations and concluded "that Sajid Mir was a high-ranking officer in the Pakistani Army and apparently also was in the ISI." Mir achieved the rank of major before leaving the Pakistani Army for some unknown reason.

Obviously, the man known as "Major Iqbal" received that title because he, too, became a major in the Pakistani Army. "US and Indian anti-terrorism officials suspect Major Iqbal was a serving ISI officer and a liaison to Lashkar," Rotella reported. Iqbal reportedly gave Headley $25,000, which was used to facilitate the surveillance of potential targets in Mumbai.

And if this most recent account in the Hindustan Times is right, then the surveillance reports paid for by an ISI man ended up in the hands of Osama bin Laden.

While ISI-connected operatives were clearly involved in the Mumbai plot, questions remain about how much the highest-ranking officials in the ISI knew about it. The same type of debate was unleashed in May 2011, after Osama bin Laden was found living next to an elite Pakistani military academy. The ISI has multiple wings, with the T-wing considered vastly more friendly to the US than the S-wing, which manages the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment's sponsorship of terrorist groups.

Islamic Terrorists Set Off 3 Bombs In Mumbai, India...21 Killed

Well, it's been about a year and a half since the Mumbai terror attack that shocked the world and now the mujahideen have struck again in the name of Mohammed setting off three bombs in the city of Mumbai, India killing at least 21 people.

From the report at The Long War Journal:

Three bombings today in India's financial capital of Mumbai have killed 21 people and wounded scores more in the first major attack in the country since the terror assault on the city in November 2008.

The bombs were detonated over a period of 30 minutes. The first blast took place at the Zaveri Bazaar near a Hindu temple, the second in a taxi at Dadar, and the third at Mumbai's Opera House. The bombs were detonated in areas and at times that ensured a maximum number of civilian casualties, according to Indian officials.

Twenty-one people have been killed and more than 130 have been wounded, according to The Times of India.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the so-called Indian Mujahideen is the prime suspect. India's Intelligence Bureau has previously denied that the Indian Mujahideen exists. Instead the Bureau has claimed the terror group is a creation of the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, or HUJI-B, an al Qaeda affiliate. HUJI-B created the Indian Mujahideen to confuse investigators and cover the tracks of the Students Islamic Movement of India, or SIMI, which provides logistics for the attacks.

SIMI is a front group for the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and Lashkar-e-Taiba inside India. It receives support from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and is an al Qaeda affiliate. SIMI provides logistical support for attacks in India.

Mumbai was the scene of the November 2008 terror assault that was carried out by a team of Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives who were trained in Pakistan. The terror assault shut down Mumbai for three days as Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives fanned out and struck multiple targets, including hotels, a train station, a police station, and a Jewish center. The terrorists killed 166 people during the siege. Pakistan's ISI has been directly implicated in the attack.

My prediction here is that the Indian government, Indian military and Indian intelligence services are not going to fuck around this time. After the big attack in 2008, they more or less practiced restraint and allowed Pakistan to try and dig through the rubble for the attackers in Pakistan. Well, this is more than likely the work of local Islamic terrorists in India and I predict the Indians are going to turn that city inside out over this.

At the same time, it's my guess that we are going to see some back up plans by the jihadis - I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we see another terror attack on India by the end of the week.

21 killed in Mumbai bombings


Three bombings today in India's financial capital of Mumbai have killed 21 people and wounded scores more in the first major attack in the country since the terror assault on the city in November 2008.

The bombs were detonated over a period of 30 minutes. The first blast took place at the Zaveri Bazaar near a Hindu temple, the second in a taxi at Dadar, and the third at Mumbai's Opera House. The bombs were detonated in areas and at times that ensured a maximum number of civilian casualties, according to Indian officials.

Twenty-one people have been killed and more than 130 have been wounded, according to The Times of India.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the so-called Indian Mujahideen is the prime suspect. India's Intelligence Bureau has previously denied that the Indian Mujahideen exists. Instead the Bureau has claimed the terror group is a creation of the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, or HUJI-B, an al Qaeda affiliate. HUJI-B created the Indian Mujahideen to confuse investigators and cover the tracks of the Students Islamic Movement of India, or SIMI, which provides logistics for the attacks.

SIMI is a front group for the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and Lashkar-e-Taiba inside India. It receives support from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and is an al Qaeda affiliate. SIMI provides logistical support for attacks in India.

Mumbai was the scene of the November 2008 terror assault that was carried out by a team of Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives who were trained in Pakistan. The terror assault shut down Mumbai for three days as Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives fanned out and struck multiple targets, including hotels, a train station, a police station, and a Jewish center. The terrorists killed 166 people during the siege. Pakistan's ISI has been directly implicated in the attack.

Today's attack in Mumbai is rumored by The Times of India to be a "birthday present" for Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving member of the suicide assault team. Kasab, a Pakistani member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, was born on July 13, 1987. Kasab has been convicted of murder by an Indian court and has been sentenced to death.

Audio Tapes of Pakistani Handlers and Mumbai Attackers Reveal The Evil

Man, this article here from The Telegraph details some bits and pieces of conversations heard on audio tape now from dialogue between the Mumbai attackers and their "handlers" back in Pakistan. Look at this first scenario when the evil of the Pakistani terrorists is revealed...read it closely:

The tapes, which were broadcast on an Indian television news channel, relay a conversation between one of the controllers in Pakistan and a female Jewish hostage in which he reassured her despite having already decided to have her killed.
A caller from Pakistan called Wasi spoke to Nurma Shvarzblat Rabinovich, 50, and asked her to call the Israeli consulate in Mumbai to set up negotiations with a senior diplomat.
After she told him she had made the call, and the Israelis were getting in contact with the Indian authorities, Wasi said: "Then don't worry. Breathe easy. Wait for our next call. Don't worry, save your energy, save it for a better day. Maybe they'll speak to us soon and maybe you'll celebrate Sabbath with your family."
But in another conversation with one of the gunman, the Pakistani controller gave detailed instructions on how apparently Nurma and another woman should be killed: "Stand her up on this side of the door. Shoot her in such a way that the bullet goes right through her head and out the other side. The bullet should not get stuck in her body Do it, I'm listening," he hectored his gunman in Nariman House, where six, including the Rabbi of a Jewish charity and his wife were killed. "One is done?" he demanded, and his gunman replied: "Both are finished." Mrs Rabinovich had been staying at Mumbai's Chabad Lubavitch charity where she was planning to complete her emigration to Israel the following week.

This Pakistani pig on the one end of the phone assures the Jewish hostage that she will live to see the Sabbath while immediately afterwards he tells his attacker in Mumbai just how to kill her. Pure evil folks. Straight from Hell evil.

The article has a few other blurbs of conversation but I cannot get past that first exchange - I shudder to think what it is like inside of the terrorist mind. And folks question me at times for my hard line approach to the terrorists and islamists - well go back and read this exchange again and try to explain to me why, just why these minions should be left on Earth even one more day.

Chilling Mumbai terror attack tapes released

The tapes, which were broadcast on an Indian television news channel, relay a conversation between one of the controllers in Pakistan and a female Jewish hostage in which he reassured her despite having already decided to have her killed.
A caller from Pakistan called Wasi spoke to Nurma Shvarzblat Rabinovich, 50, and asked her to call the Israeli consulate in Mumbai to set up negotiations with a senior diplomat.
After she told him she had made the call, and the Israelis were getting in contact with the Indian authorities, Wasi said: "Then don't worry. Breathe easy. Wait for our next call. Don't worry, save your energy, save it for a better day. Maybe they'll speak to us soon and maybe you'll celebrate Sabbath with your family."
But in another conversation with one of the gunman, the Pakistani controller gave detailed instructions on how apparently Nurma and another woman should be killed: "Stand her up on this side of the door. Shoot her in such a way that the bullet goes right through her head and out the other side. The bullet should not get stuck in her body Do it, I'm listening," he hectored his gunman in Nariman House, where six, including the Rabbi of a Jewish charity and his wife were killed. "One is done?" he demanded, and his gunman replied: "Both are finished." Mrs Rabinovich had been staying at Mumbai's Chabad Lubavitch charity where she was planning to complete her emigration to Israel the following week.
At other points in the tapes, the Pakistan-based commanders asked detailed questions about the positions of Indian special commandos, what the terrorists had eaten for energy, how much ammunition they had remaining, and gave equally detailed instructions on when to throw grenades and where to position themselves in the building to stay out of Indian commando range.
When one of the Nariman House gunmen asked his controller if he could drink a bottle of Coke he had found, his handler replied:"Drink the mineral water. Drink the Coke. Coke has sugar. That will give you energy. If you find biscuits, eat them."
As the Indian special commandos closed in on them, the terrorists in Nariman House appeared to panic, and are heard saying to their handlers:"There's a helicopter above us, looks like an advance the curtains are shot away, please pray we get out of this room alive, please pray for us."
The Indian government had earlier detailed in their official dossier other conversations between the Pakistani handlers, who they suspect have special forces or intelligence training, and their terrorist gunmen in Mumbai, but these latest tapes appear to be a previously withheld section from the same set.

Mumbai Plotter's Computer Accessed, Shows 320 World Targets Were Planned

Can you imagine? The group primarily held responsible for the planning and attack on Mumbai, India that left nearly 200 people dead apparently had much bigger plans than just the Indian city. One of the leaders of the suspect terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, namely Zarar Shah, had a computer with a list of a 320 world targets the group had targeted for similar commando attacks...that's right 320! Here's some of the details from the article at The Guardian:

The plotters behind the Mumbai attack, which left more than 170 people dead, had placed India's financial capital on a list of 320 worldwide locations as potential targets for commando-style terror strikes, the Guardian has learned.
It suggests that Lashkar-e-Taiba, the outlawed terror group that planned much of the attack from Pakistan, had ambitions well beyond causing mayhem in India.
Western intelligence agencies have accessed the computer and email account of Lashkar's communications chief, Zarar Shah, and found a list of possible targets, only 20 of which were in India.

Now, the article doesn't refer specifically to the targets on that list of 320 but for pete's sakes, with 320 of them there can't be too many places NOT on the list. Now, some may say this is a bit of overkill by the plotters or some wishful thinking, but let's face it...with the amazing success this group found in the Mumbai massacre, one has to think that a number of the other targets probably would have been sitting ducks as well.

Personally, I'd like to see this list just because I suspect there might be some interesting targets on it - I'm guessing there may be some islamic target cities on it, ....Tehran? Turkey? Egypt?

The article states later in it that this group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, isn't really set up globally but hell, didn't experts at one time say that about al Qaeda?

Mumbai attackers had hit list of 320 world targets

The plotters behind the Mumbai attack, which left more than 170 people dead, had placed India's financial capital on a list of 320 worldwide locations as potential targets for commando-style terror strikes, the Guardian has learned.
It suggests that Lashkar-e-Taiba, the outlawed terror group that planned much of the attack from Pakistan, had ambitions well beyond causing mayhem in India.
Western intelligence agencies have accessed the computer and email account of Lashkar's communications chief, Zarar Shah, and found a list of possible targets, only 20 of which were in India.
Two of the November 2008 attack's key planners – Shah and Lashkar's operations chief, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi – are now in police custody in Pakistan.
Islamabad's decision to bring criminal charges against nine men accused of involvement in the Mumbai attack has partly placated Indian officials. But officials in New Delhi have been warning that they want to see people brought to justice for terrorist acts.
"If the west can prosecute people for crimes against humanity in The Hague or use rendition to interrogate them in undisclosed locations then what is stopping them now? After all, [western] citizens were killed in Mumbai too," an official said.
The US has been trying behind the scenes to co-ordinate intelligence exchanges between the two nuclear-armed rivals. The CIA has worked hard to be seen to help New Delhi – including by recovering phone numbers deleted by the terrorists on their satellite phones.
The fallout from Mumbai has destabilised the government of Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, which is attempting to face down Islamist groups his predecessors cultivated.
Intelligence agencies have warned that Mumbai raises the spectre of a new style of terrorist assault. The city of 19 million people was brought to a halt by 10 heavily armed gunmen rampaging through restaurants and hotels for three days.
Nine of the gunmen were killed – but the lone survivor has given Indian investigators a full confession that the assault was planned in Pakistan by Lashkar, a militant group that originally began an armed campaign against the Indian army in Kashmir.
There has been some speculation that raids in Spain which netted 12 men – an Indian and 11 Pakistanis – were a result of the investigations into Lashkar's role in the Mumbai attacks.
The dozen men were reportedly picked up for forging passports and other travel documents for terror organisations, including al-Qaida. Pakistan's government has said the Mumbai attacks were partly planned from Spain.
Analysts say the computer list is more of a statement of intent because Lashkar would need time to set up terrorist cells in so many places.
"Lashkar is an increasingly prominent terrorist group within the jihadi community but I am sceptical of it being able to act globally and extensively on its own," said Maria Kuusisto, an analyst covering Pakistan and Afghanistan for the Eurasia Group, a political consultancy in London.

India Flat Out Accuses Pakistan's ISI Of Involvement In Mumbai Attack

Yep, this is a first - the Indian government has come out and unequivocally accused Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), of direct involvement in the Mumbai terror attack. And the Indians didn't mince any words in their accusation. Let's look at the details from the article here at Breitbart:

India has for the first time directly accused Pakistan's powerful military intelligence agency -- the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) -- of involvement in last year's Mumbai attacks.
"The perpetrators planned, trained and launched their attacks from Pakistan, and the organisers were and remain clients and creations of the ISI," Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said in a speech in Paris on Thursday that was picked up by the Indian media.
In January, India handed Pakistan what it said was evidence linking "elements" in Pakistan to the November attacks on India's financial capital, in which 10 gunmen killed 165 people during a 60-hour siege.
New Delhi has blamed the attacks on the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is active in Indian-ruled Kashmir, but the Pakistan-based organisation has denied responsibility.

Obviously, this is the hardest line taken by the Indian government so far with the formal government of Pakistan on the Mumbai attack and one has to wonder if this isn't going to be followed up with both a demand and an ultimatum. After all this time, one would have to think that the Indians had given up on any real form of justice in this but it seems like every week or two now, this still resurfaces and thus, I am certain that there are elements of the Indian government that are still pressuring leadership for some punishment of Pakistan.

India says Pakistan spy agency behind Mumbai attacks

India has for the first time directly accused Pakistan's powerful military intelligence agency -- the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) -- of involvement in last year's Mumbai attacks.
"The perpetrators planned, trained and launched their attacks from Pakistan, and the organisers were and remain clients and creations of the ISI," Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said in a speech in Paris on Thursday that was picked up by the Indian media.
In January, India handed Pakistan what it said was evidence linking "elements" in Pakistan to the November attacks on India's financial capital, in which 10 gunmen killed 165 people during a 60-hour siege.
New Delhi has blamed the attacks on the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is active in Indian-ruled Kashmir, but the Pakistan-based organisation has denied responsibility.
Earlier this week Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani assured India that his government would hand over the results of its own investigation into the attacks soon.
Pakistan has confirmed that the lone surviving Mumbai gunman, now in Indian custody, is one of its citizens. But it has insisted that the attackers were "non-state actors."

India Makes Stronger Accusation Against Pakistan On Mumbai

I still think the aftermath of the Mumbai attack is going to take a very bad turn and evidence of that is the comment yesterday from India's Prime Minister that came the closest yet to actually accusing the Pakistani government of aiding the terrorists in their attack on Mumbai. Here's the details from the piece over at Breitbart:

Pakistani authorities "must have had" a hand in the deadly Mumbai siege, India's prime minister said Tuesday, stopping just short of directly accusing Islamabad of aiding the gunmen.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh repeated India's allegations that the attack was carried out by the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. But in his most forceful speech since the November attacks, he also said "there is enough evidence to show that, given the sophistication and military precision of the attack, it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan."
The careful phrasing seemed aimed at keeping tensions between the bitter rivals at a low burn, and reflects the widespread belief that there are multiple power centers in Pakistan.

You know, the Pakistani government has handled the aftermath of Mumbai probably as poorly as is humanly possible - it reminds me of the kind of bumbling that could be the hallmark of a U.S. President with so little leadership experience under his belt ( wink, nod ). Every step of the way in the post-Mumbai investigations, the Pakistani government has made itself look as guilty as possible and at the same time, they seem oblivious that the Indian government is under huge pressure to give the Indian people some justice.

I, personally, think that Pakistan's only option in this situation is to turn over the leadership of Lashkar-e-Taiba. But Pakistan has even been hesitant to admit some basics in the aftermath and that's like sticking a hot iron in an open wound for the Indians.

India: Pakistanis `must have' backed Mumbai attack

The overwhelmingly Muslim nation's civilian government is relatively new and weak, while its military-controlled spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, is thought to have a high degree of independence.
Singh did not directly name any Pakistani officials, but India has blamed the ISI for being involved in attacks against India in recent years.
Singh also charged Pakistan with "whipping up war hysteria," and criticized what he called their reluctance to crack down on militants operating on their territory.
The speech came one day after India handed Pakistan evidence that New Delhi says proves the attacks were plotted in Pakistan. The dossier included details from the interrogation of the lone surviving gunman, recovered weapons, and intercepted communications with the suspected handlers back in Pakistan.
The investigation into the attack, which left 164 dead, showed the 10 gunmen could not have been working on their own, Singh said.
"Unfortunately, we cannot choose our neighbors," Singh said. "Some countries like Pakistan have in the past encouraged and given sanctuary to terrorists and other forces who are antagonistic to India."
He spoke before a meeting with senior officials from around the country to discuss security concerns in the latest in a recent ratcheting up of Indian rhetoric.
Pakistan's Deputy Foreign Minister Malik Hamad Khan said Islamabad was committed to take action against non-state actors if they were involved in the attacks.
"We have been saying from day one that the state of Pakistan is not to blame if any non-state actors are involved" in the attacks, adding that the actions of individuals should not be blamed on Pakistan.

Lashkar-e-Taiba Operatives Admit To Mumbai Massacre

Whoa! This article here at The Long War Journal is absolutely damning to both Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Pakistani government's cover up of Lashkar's guilt - read the whole thing! The Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives that were rounding up by the Pakistanis after the Mumbai attack are singing like canaries and now, the U.S. and Britain have provided even more damning evidence of more Lashkar-e-Taiba responsibility. Here's some of the article:

A Lashkar-e-Taiba leader in Pakistani custody admitted to his role in last month's terror assault in the Indian city of Mumbai, Pakistani sources told The Wall Street Journal. The confession comes as the US and UK provided recording of another senior Lashkar leader speaking to one of the Mumbai terrorists during the operation.

Zarar Shah, "is singing," a Pakistani official involved with the interrogation told the newspaper. Shah is the Lashkar-e-Taiba communications expert who set up the network that allowed the Mumbai terrorists to speak with Lashkar-e-Taiba commanders in Pakistan during the attack. He also serves as a key liaison between the terror group and Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency. Pakistani police detained Shah earlier this month during raids on Lashkar's offices and train camps.

Meanwhile, the United States is pressuring Pakistan to turn over Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, the military commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Dawn reported. The US has provided Pakistan with communications intercepts between Lakhvi and the Mumbai terrorists. Lakhvi was also detained by Pakistani police during the sweeps against Lashkar offices and camps.

Now, here comes the sticky part and believe me, this could really bring some trouble in the region between India and Pakistan:

Pakistan has rejected the evidence of Lashkar’s complicity in Mumbai that was turned over by India, the US, and the UK. Pakistani officials said the information is "inadmissible in court," Dawn reported. "They said that since the confessions had been obtained under severe pressure by the Indians, this could not be admissible in judicial process. They have insisted that the information provided would not stand scrutiny in any court."

As you can see, there is a MOUNTAIN of evidence that this attack was planned, executed and now being covered up in Pakistan. If the Pakistani government goes down this road of rejecting this evidence and if these operatives who planned this mission are set free or get a slap on the wrist, I thoroughly expect India to take action INSIDE of Pakistan against Lashkar-e-Taiba and that of course will bring serious trouble. The Pakistanis better suck it up and realize that the terror group in their midst is caught red-handed and best give them up.

Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives directly linked to Mumbai

Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only Mumbai terrorist captured by Indian police, admitted his 10-man team trained in Lashkar camps in Pakistan with the support of the Inter-Service Intelligence agency and launched their attack from the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
Sabauddin Ahmed and Fahim Ansari, two other Lashkar operatives detained earlier this month, also confirmed elements of Shah and Kasab's account.

Since the Mumbai attack, Pakistan's president, prime minister, and national security advisor have said evidence on Kasab's nationality was insufficient. "Have you seen any evidence to that effect," President Asif Ali Zardari said when asked if Kasab was a Pakistan during a BBC interview in mid-December. "I have definitely not seen any real evidence to that effect."
Yesterday, National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani refused to admit Kasab was a Pakistani citizen. "Could be," Durrani said when asked if Kasab was a Pakistani citizen. "I am not saying more than that because we don't have, I hate to say this we don't have proof."
But Pakistan has been given proof of Kasab's nationality. Kasab himself admitted he is from Pakistan and submitted a request for consular access. The request is "under review" by Pakistan's foreign office.
Kasab's father and neighbors were interviewed by Pakistani television and news outlets and confirmed he was indeed from Pakistan. His own father identified him and provided a nearly identical account of his son's background as Kasab gave to Indian intelligence. "This is the truth," Kasab's father told a Pakistani news outlet. "I have seen the picture in the newspaper. This is my son Ajmal."

Mumbai Attackers Barely Escaped Encounter With Indian Navy/Coast Guard

I found this article pretty fascinating as it details just how close the Mumbai islamist jihadists came to having their boat boarded for inspection just prior to them launching their rubber rafts to land on Indian soil. In a nutshell, an Indian naval or coast guard vessel spotted the boat the terrorists were on and one sailor even used binoculars to glass the occupants - apparently the fact that the boat was Indian-owned swayed the naval boat from going any further. That, of course, was unfortunate but the one bit of silver lining here was that the encounter rattled the young terrorists so much that they forgot one of their key training mantras - to destroy their satellite phone and GPS. Of course, a huge part of India's smoking gun against the roots of the operation being in Pakistan is due to the recovery of those items from the boat. Here's some of the details at Times of India:

Alertness by an Indian patrol vessel on the night of November 26 could have prevented the Mumbai carnage. Lashkar terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasav has told interrogators that just before the 10 jihadis abandoned the trawler 'Kuber' to take inflatable boats to dock at Mumbai, an Indian vessel - either from the Navy or the Coast Guard and seemingly on a routine patrol - passed by Kuber with a sailor scanning it through binoculars.

The scrutiny was close enough to cause the terrorists to take positions and alert their Lashkar bosses. The Lashkar commanders ordered the gang to stay still and avoid a confrontation with the patrol. Soon, the vessel, perhaps taken in by the Indian ownership of Kuber, moved on. But in their haste to move out, the panicky jihadis forgot to destroy their satphone and GPS device. This was an instruction that had been sternly drilled into the group by the Lashkar trainers in the camps where they were trained, in the safehouse at Azizabad near Karachi where they had been put up before being sent and, one last time, on board Al Hussaini, the Lashkar ship which they sailed on before capturing Kuber.

One other thing that I have found interesting about the aftermath of the Mumbai attack is that the culprits, Lashkar-e-Taiba, denied their role in the attack right after it happened and of course, we see now a lot of the actions they had planned out to cover their tracks. Compare this to the terrorist attacks in the Middle East where once an attack is carried out, it's usually a dogpile of several terror organizations to claim responsibility. And look at al Qaeda who normally boasts of their involvement in a major attack, to the point where they will release a press statement.

I think the difference in this case comes down to two possibilities - one, that there was an element of this attack that was set up to get the Indians to suspect Pakistani intelligence (ISI) devised the plan and thus creating a war between India and Pakistan...while the second possibility, in my view, is that the leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba are too well known in Pakistan and their whereabouts could not be hidden easily.

Whichever it was, the smoking gun was found and Pakistan finds itself in a tough spot on how they are going to be perceived in handling the perpetrators. I would guess that when all the dust settles here, Pakistan will have no choice but to hand over some of the arrested to India in exchange for covering up some of their own government's involvement in the attack.

Terror boat was almost nabbed off Mumbai

This was an instruction that had been sternly drilled into the group by the Lashkar trainers in the camps where they were trained, in the safehouse at Azizabad near Karachi where they had been put up before being sent and, one last time, on board Al Hussaini, the Lashkar ship which they sailed on before capturing Kuber. The satellite phone, with five logged calls to Lashkar brass, is a trove of information that can blast apart Pakistan's denial that the terrorists were launched from its territory and by a group which is an extension of its espionage agency, the ISI. India's agencies have been familiar with one of these logged numbers which has regularly popped up in the course of investigation into terrorist attacks. It belongs to Abu Al Qama, a known Lashkar mastermind of jihadi violence. What should worry Lashkar and its mentors in Pakistan establishment is the GPS device in the Thuraya satellite phone - something that can pinpoint the location of the user. Such details are stored in the 'switch' or service provider's hub in Sharjah, and can drill holes in Lashkar's denials of its involvement. Put shortly, the satphone memory can map the location and movement of the instruments and their jihadi users. The Sharjah-based Thuraya has been the jihadis' favourite because the satphone is not licenced to be sold here and, therefore, the calls, made or received, cannot be intercepted. For the details of other four logged numbers, cops have approached the Federal Bureau of Investigation who have enough leverage with the UAE authorities to get the details from the service provider. The GPS device that they used on the trawler has already established that they had set out from Kazghar creek to be picked up by the jihadi ship, Al Hussaini. Indian cops are also depending on the FBI to trace the origin of calls made to mobile phones carried by the attackers through the Net, using Voice over Internet Protocol. This is going to be a tough task as the software to mask a user's location is freely available. Such calls pass through several proxy sites and the pathways are not easy to trace. FBI, however, has proven expertise in the field and Indian cops are banking on it. "It is a test case for the US's promise to help us get to the bottom of mass murder conspiracy," said a senior intelligence source, obviously wary of the extent to which Washington would go in a probe that can affect its ties with Pakistan, its ally in the "war against terror".

Pakistan Detains Lashkar-e-Taiba Mastermind of Mumbai Attack

Pakistan has followed through with their commitment to go after the terror group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and has captured the military leader of the group who is said to be the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack operation. Eight other Lashkar-e-Taiba members were detained in the same operation. Here's some of the details from The Long War Journal:

Pakistani security forces detained one of the masterminds in the Nov. 26 Mumbai terror assault, according to reports from Pakistan. Zia-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi was detained along with eight other members of Lashkar-e-Taiba were arrested during raids on a camp and offices operated by the terror group in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Zia-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who is also know as Chachaji, serves as the military commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based terror group founded by Hafiz Saeed. The identity of the eight others detained in the operation has not been disclosed. A spokesman for the Lashkar-e-Taiba confirmed Lakhvi and several others were detained.
Security forces raided a Lashkar camp in Shwai Nullah in Muzaffarabad. A maddrassa and a school were also raided by Pakistani forces.

Now, India has still be clamoring for these suspects in the attack on Mumbai to be handed over to Indian authorities and for good reason...the Pakistanis are certainly not to be trusted to carry out any sort of actual justice in their own country.

Hell, look at this "capture" itself - you can't tell me these Lashkar-e-Taiba members didn't know this wasn't coming...it seems to me that there's been some sort of inner circle plea bargain agreed upon here where as there would be this so-called arrest and what will happen then is par for the course for Pakistan: they will investigate this mastermind and his cohorts which will take months and months and months and at some point in time, unbelievably, they will escape from a Pakistani jail! We've seen it happen many times in Pakistan.

The Pakistanis are going to hope that in four to six months that the Mumbai attack will become second hand news, the Indians will have more issues to worry about and it will all just fade away. It's my contention that most of the leadership of Pakistan's government, ISI and Army held minor celebrations when the Mumbai attack killed Hindus, Americans and Jews.

Pakistan detains Lashkar-e-Taiba plotter of Mumbai attacks

Pakistani security forces detained one of the masterminds in the Nov. 26 Mumbai terror assault, according to reports from Pakistan. Zia-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi was detained along with eight other members of Lashkar-e-Taiba were arrested during raids on a camp and offices operated by the terror group in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Zia-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who is also know as Chachaji, serves as the military commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based terror group founded by Hafiz Saeed. The identity of the eight others detained in the operation has not been disclosed. A spokesman for the Lashkar-e-Taiba confirmed Lakhvi and several others were detained.
Security forces raided a Lashkar camp in Shwai Nullah in Muzaffarabad. A maddrassa and a school were also raided by Pakistani forces.
Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed the camp was run by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a purported charitable organization, and not the Lashkar-e-Taiba. But Jamaat-ud-Dawa is merely a front for the Lashkar. Hafiz Saeed renamed Lashkar-e-Taiba to the Jamaat-ud-Dawa after the organization was banned by the Pakistani government after the attacks on the Indian parliament building in December 2002.
Saeed has denied any involvement with Lashkar, Pakistan's intelligence service, and al Qaeda in an interview published over the weekend. "They [the Indians] can say anything. I am not bothered about what they say," Saeed said in an interview published at Middle East Transparent. "I will keep spreading the message of Allah Almighty despite all pressures, knowing fully well that the Indians will continue to mislead the world community by linking us with Lashkar-e-Taiba, with the ISI and even with al Qaeda."
India has directly implicated Lakhvi and Yusuf Muzammil, a senior Lashkar operative, in directing the operation that killed more than 180 Indians in the financial capital of Mumbai. The operation was conducted by Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives trained inside Pakistan and launched from the Pakistani city of Karachi. The city of Mumbai was held captive for 62 hours.
Calls made from satellite phone on one of the boats used to transport the Mumbai assault teams has phone calls that have been directly traced to attack had calls to Lakhvi in Muzaffarabad. Indian police have also monitored calls between Yusuf Muzammil, a senior Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander, and an operative named Yahya based out of Bangladesh. Yahya provided the Mumbai terrorists with fake identification and telephone SIM cards.

India Gets Help From Israeli Experts On Commando Raids Into Pakistan

I know, I know...DEBKA can be a little "out there" at times with their reports but I find this one fascinating. The article here at DEBKA speaks to how India is getting expert advice and training tips on how to best move commando units into Pakistan to avenge the Mumbai attack. Here's some of the details:

New Delhi has asked Jerusalem to assist in the operational and intelligence planning of Indian commando cross-border strikes against Islamist terrorist havens in Pakistan - including al Qaeda, Indian counter-terror sources report.
The Indian government's decision to embark on these in-and-out incursions in reprisal for the Mumbai outrage of Nov. 26-29 was first revealed in DEBKA-Net-Weekly 375 published Dec. 4 (Indian Retaliatory Raids inside Pakistan Impending).
DEBKAfile adds: Israel is willing to help the Indians carry out punitive forays into Pakistan because it has its own scores to settle for the brutal murder of six Israelis in Mumbai's Chabad Center by the Islamist terrorists and for the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency's hand in the atrocity.

Like I say, I'm not sure of the authenticity of all of this but it sure sounds good to me. Seeing Indian commandos go into a Pakistani village and kill about 20 al Qaeda would be sweet. On the other hand, Indian commandos getting caught inside of Pakistan by Pakistani troops and even worse, Pakistani troops killed by Indian commandos could set off the powder keg in these two countries.

But in the meantime, I'll just sit back and relish the thought of a bunch of al Qaeda sitting around a table in a hut eating dates as the door busts open and half a dozen Indian commandos spray the room. MMMmmmmm.

Israeli experts help India prepare commando raids into Pakistan

New Delhi has asked Jerusalem to assist in the operational and intelligence planning of Indian commando cross-border strikes against Islamist terrorist havens in Pakistan - including al Qaeda, Indian counter-terror sources report.
The Indian government's decision to embark on these in-and-out incursions in reprisal for the Mumbai outrage of Nov. 26-29 was first revealed in DEBKA-Net-Weekly 375 published Dec. 4 (Indian Retaliatory Raids inside Pakistan Impending).
DEBKAfile adds: Israel is willing to help the Indians carry out punitive forays into Pakistan because it has its own scores to settle for the brutal murder of six Israelis in Mumbai's Chabad Center by the Islamist terrorists and for the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency's hand in the atrocity.
Security sources in New Delhi disclosed Saturday, Dec. 6, that ISI officers actively trained the terrorists on military lines and selected their targets, including two big hotels and the Jewish-Israeli center.
Indian sources told DEBKAfile that Israel was asked for assistance because its special undercover forces were long seasoned in plotting and executing reprisals for terrorist attacks; above all, they were expert in getting away after covert operations without leaving a trail. New Delhi wants its commando operations in Pakistan to be stealthy and focused, and does not propose to admit responsibility.
Four Pakistani locations are targeted:
1. Pakistani Kashmir where scores if not hundreds of extremist Muslim training facilities are situated - many of them ISI-run and funded;
2. Punjab in eastern Pakistan on the border of northern India. DEBKAfile's counter terror sources report that Lahore and Multan have attracted a cluster of Islamist terrorist centers.
3. Pakistan's southern coast - from Karachi north to Gwadar close to the Iranian border. Indian intelligence (RAW) has evidence that this strip was where the terrorists who besieged Mumbai ten days ago were trained for their assault.
Our New Delhi sources disclose that Indian leaders showed the outline of this plan to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice when she visited last week. She commented guardedly that the United States was strongly opposed to a full-scale war between India and Pakistan but not averse to limited counter-terror operations.

India Has Proof Of Pakistan's ISI Involvement In Mumbai Attack

Now, this report is coming out of Times of India here so let's take this with a grain of salt but it is pretty evident that more and more proof is coming out that Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI ( Inter Services Intelligence), was indeed involved in the planning of the attack on Mumbai, India.

Here's some of the details from the article:

India has proof that the Inter Services Intelligence was involved in planning the Mumbai terror attacks and training the terrorists who killed more than 180 people during a 60-hour siege of the country's financial capital, sources said in New Delhi on Thursday. The names of trainers and the places where meticulous training took place are also known to the government, the sources said. The United States is believed to have even more evidence, some of which it has shared with India, they said. Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, who was in Pakistan on Wednesday, is believed to have told his Pakistani interlocutors that Washington had enough evidence to show a Pakistani hand in the attack, the sources said.

The article does point out some other circumstancial evidence that points to the Pakistani Army's involvement, like this:

When the terror attack took place Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was in India and had consciously decided not to cut short his visit. However, the Indian government was told at 2.30 am that a special aircraft was being sent less than 4 hours later to take him back to Pakistan. In what observers see as a clear message to the civilian government, the Pakistan army chief's plane was sent to Delhi to pick up Qureshi, who boarded the flight around 7 am.

Just so we are clear here...it appears that the civilian government of Pakistan probably didn't know about this attack but you must realize that for many, many years, the Pakistani Army and the ISI have operated as rogue operations separate in many cases from the government. And it appears that is what is going on here. Either way, Pakistan is gonna be in deep shit over this smoking gun. I don't doubt for a minute the authenticity of this - I mentioned the other day that the ISI was proven to have been involved to some extent in the planned assassination attempt on Afghanistan's President Karzai a few months ago.

Now, whether Pakistan can effectively cover this latest ISI operation remains to be seen or whether India will give the civilian government a pass is even a bigger question.

India has proof of ISI role in Mumbai attacks: Sources

Sources here also refuse to believe that the Pakistani army did not have knowledge of the Mumbai operation given that ISI is controlled by it. At the same time, sources do not believe that the civilian government in Pakistan is involved in the attack. In fact, one view is that the civilian government itself may be a target of the strike which may be used by the army to heighten tensions with India to return to power. Washington has asked Pakistan to crackdown on Lashkar-e-Taiba, which now goes under the name of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, and to arrest its chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed because it has evidence of their involvement in the attack, the sources said. The attack was planned, equipped and organised in Pakistan where the terrorists were trained and provided logistical support. Contrary to the version that the terrorists used a hijacked Indian fishing boat to reach Mumbai after sailing from Karachi, the view here is that much more sophisticated means were used. The sources spoke of a clear disconnect between the Pakistani civilian government and the all-powerful military establishment, which is causing difficulties for India in dealing with the situation. Islamabad's about-turn on sending the Director General of ISI to India is cited as an instance of this disconnect. During a telephone conversation Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the Mumbai attack, President Asif Zardari had referred to an earlier Pakistani proposal for a meeting between the ISI chief and the head of India's external intelligence agency, RAW. Singh told Zardari that this was acceptable to India, after which Pakistan government had announced that the ISI head would travel to India. After a post-midnight call on Zardari by Army chief Gen Ashfaque Kayani this decision was reversed with the President taking cover under a "mis-communication" with the Indian prime minister. Instead it was decided to depute a Director-level officer to India. When the terror attack took place Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was in India and had consciously decided not to cut short his visit. However, the Indian government was told at 2.30 am that a special aircraft was being sent less than 4 hours later to take him back to Pakistan.

Pakistan Refuses To Extradite 20 Most Wanted Terrorists To India

Pakistan has defied India's request for the hand over of 20 Lashkar e-Taiba terrorists and leaders today. This refusal to extradite these jihadists to India is only going to fuel the tensions between the two countries. Here's some of the details from DEBKA:

President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday, Dec. 3, rejected New Delhi's demand to extradite Lashkar e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohd Sayeed and 19 other fugitives implicated in the Mumbai and other terrorist outrages in India. He said that if evidence were provided, they would be tried in Pakistani courts.
In New Delhi, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice pledged Washington would work with India and Pakistan to find the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack and bring them to trial. She landed in the Indian capital as Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs, arrived in Islamabad to defuse the war tensions between the two subcontinental nuclear countries.
India's wanted list includes also Mumbai underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar. In demanding the fugitives' handover, Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said his country has every right to protect its territorial integrity and would take appropriate action to deal with terror strikes emanating from Pakistan. He did not rule out military strikes against terror camps across the border.

Now, this doesn't surprise me in that I doubted that Pakistan would just comply 100% with this demand of India's but at the same time, one has to believe that Pakistan's government isn't dumb enough to just refuse this without some sort of alternative plan. Pakistan has to realize that the Indians are dealing with a public that is going to get only more enraged and demanding of heads to roll. I don't see how the trying of any convicted terrorists in Pakistan of these terrorists will appease India. The crimes were commited in India!

At the same time, this is really Pakistan's new government's first real international crisis where they find themselves having to make some tough decisions. In the past six months, we have seen the Pakistani government back down in most cases - they've backed down on threats to the U.S. over UAV strikes inside the country and we've also seen them back down to the Taliban in several NW provinces.

I would guess that if India's response is adamant enough, we will see some sort of compromise come out of this.

Pakistan refuses to hand over 20 wanted terrorists as Rice lands in New Delhi

President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday, Dec. 3, rejected New Delhi's demand to extradite Lashkar e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohd Sayeed and 19 other fugitives implicated in the Mumbai and other terrorist outrages in India. He said that if evidence were provided, they would be tried in Pakistani courts.
In New Delhi, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice pledged Washington would work with India and Pakistan to find the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack and bring them to trial. She landed in the Indian capital as Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs, arrived in Islamabad to defuse the war tensions between the two subcontinental nuclear countries.
India's wanted list includes also Mumbai underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar. In demanding the fugitives' handover, Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said his country has every right to protect its territorial integrity and would take appropriate action to deal with terror strikes emanating from Pakistan. He did not rule out military strikes against terror camps across the border. India says the Kashmiri Lashkar e-Taiba group is linked to al Qaeda and Pakistani intelligence.
Zardari questioned the claim that the only surviving gunman was a Pakistani. He said the Mumbai attacks were executed by "stateless actors" who want to hold the whole world, including Pakistan itself, hostage and called for a joint investigation.

Attack On Mumbai: The Timeline

This really is a nice piece here at Reuters that goes through the precise timeline of the well-planned and coordinated attack on the Indian city of Mumbai. There are so many different reports on exactly how many died and were injured - this article lists 124 dead as reported by police - I think the more accurate reports are setting the death toll at 195 dead. I've excerpted the entire Reuters timeline below:

* WEDNESDAY:

-- Islamist gunmen attack Mumbai in at least seven places shortly after 10.30 p.m. Around two dozen militants armed with automatic rifles and grenades attack targets including luxury hotels -- the Taj Mahal and the Trident Oberoi -- hospitals, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station and the popular Leopold cafe.
-- Gunmen remain holed up in the hotels and at Chabad House, a popular stop for Israeli visitors. Many are reported killed and the army begins moving into the Trident Oberoi hotel.
-- Police say at least some of the attackers came ashore in a rubber dinghy.
-- The chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in Mumbai is killed in the attack.

* THURSDAY:

-- Commandos fight room-to-room battles in the two hotels to rescue people trapped by the gunmen. Explosions rattle the Taj hotel where some hostages are rescued.
-- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blames militant groups based in India's neighbours, usually meaning Pakistan.
-- Pakistan condemns the attacks and promises full cooperation in fighting terrorism.

* FRIDAY:

-- India points a finger at Pakistani-linked "elements" for the attacks in Mumbai.
-- At the Trident Oberoi Hotel, commandos kill two militants and free 143 guests.
-- A lone gunmen continues to hold out at the nearby Taj hotel.
-- Five hostages inside the besieged Jewish centre are found dead.
-- At least 12 foreigners -- three Germans, two Americans, one Australian, a Briton, Canadian, two French, an Italian and a Japanese national -- are among the dead.
-- Pakistan says the two countries face a common enemy. Urging India not to play politics, it agrees to send its spy chief to share intelligence on the suicide attacks.
-- Police say 124 people are killed and 284 wounded.