InfoAnda - Insight: Voice of Mumbai attacks points finger at Pakistan |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Obituaries in the news | 7 November 2009
Beyonce and friends to rock Formula 1 night race | Entertainment | | 5 August 2009
EADS accepts A400M financing offer: France | 26 February 2010

Government Web sites attacked; NKorea suspected | 9 July 2009

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Insight: Voice of Mumbai attacks points finger at Pakistan |

Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Legal Deals Earnings Social Pulse Business Video The Freeland File Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia India Insight World Video Reuters Investigates Decoder Politics Politics Home Election 2012 Campaign Polling Tales from the Trail Political Punchlines Supreme Court Politics Video Tech Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Tech Tonic Social Pulse Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland John Lloyd Felix Salmon Jack Shafer David Rohde Bernd Debusmann Nader Mousavizadeh Lucy P. Marcus David Cay Johnston Bethany McLean Anatole Kaletsky Edward Hadas Hugo Dixon Ian Bremmer Lawrence Summers Susan Glasser The Great Debate Steven Brill Jack & Suzy Welch Frederick Kempe Christopher Papagianis Mark Leonard Breakingviews Equities Credit Private Equity M&A Macro & Markets Politics Breakingviews Video Money Money Home Tax Break Lipper Awards 2012 Global Investing MuniLand Unstructured Finance Linda Stern Mark Miller John Wasik James Saft Analyst Research Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Money Clip Investing 201 Life Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Reuters TV Reuters News Article Comments (0) Full Focus Editor's choice A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. See more Images of May Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Insight: "Green Fleet" sails, meets stiff headwinds in Congress 3:12pm EDT Iran threatens Israel; new EU sanctions take force 01 Jul 2012 CNN's Anderson Cooper says "the fact is, I'm gay" 1:21pm EDT GlaxoSmithKline settles healthcare fraud case for $3 billion 3:02pm EDT Mormons quit church in mass resignation ceremony 30 Jun 2012 Discussed 235 Supreme Court to deliver Obama healthcare law ruling 82 Iran threatens Israel; new EU sanctions take force 79 Analysis: Why Roberts saved Obama’s healthcare law Watched The King and the Spanish Champions 12:27pm EDT Working outdoors from inside your office Sun, Jul 1 2012 Spanish team arrives in Madrid 10:39am EDT Pictures Reuters Photojournalism Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption Raging wildfires Raging fires strike Colorado and Utah. Slideshow Gay Pride parades Revelers celebrate Gay Pride month with parades all around the world. Slideshow Insight: Voice of Mumbai attacks points finger at Pakistan Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Mumbai attack was run from Pakistan: India Fri, Jun 29 2012 Twenty dead in Taliban siege of Afghan hotel; NATO blames Haqqanis Fri, Jun 22 2012 Pakistan lawmakers elects former minister Ashraf as PM Fri, Jun 22 2012 Pakistan Supreme Court disqualifies prime minister Tue, Jun 19 2012 Prince Salman named Saudi heir at time of turmoil Mon, Jun 18 2012 Analysis & Opinion End the assault on female and local journalists Blaze at revered Sufi shrine triggers violence in Indian Kashmir Related Topics World » By Sanjeev Miglani and John Chalmers NEW DELHI | Mon Jul 2, 2012 5:02pm EDT NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Forty-eight hours into the bloody assault on Mumbai in November 2008, smoke was billowing from the wreckage of the Taj Mahal hotel and commandos were flushing out the last gunmen holed up in the opulent landmark of India's financial capital. A short distance away in the city's southernmost peninsula, security forces were still battling at Nariman House, a Jewish centre where two of the Islamist militants had taken half a dozen people hostage, including a rabbi and his pregnant wife. "Remember that every one person you kill there is like taking 50 lives," a coordinator of the rampage told the two men, according to the transcript of a telephone conversation picked up by Indian intelligence. "Get rid of these people. Kill them." All six in the centre were killed before the gunmen were slain by security forces. In all, 166 people were killed in the three-day frenzy of attacks on two upmarket hotels, Mumbai's busy railway terminal and a fashionable cafe. India says the voice urging the 10 militants on to bloodshed was that of Indian-born Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, who was speaking from a "control room" in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Last month, after more than a year of painstaking diplomacy that involved India, Saudi Arabia and the United States, Ansari was quietly put on a plane in Riyadh, flown to New Delhi and arrested. For India it is a huge breakthrough. New Delhi is hoping that Ansari's capture will help prove its allegation - strenuously denied in Islamabad - that the Mumbai carnage was directed by people connected with Pakistan's security establishment, particularly the shadowy ISI military intelligence agency. That could stir fresh tensions between South Asia's nuclear-armed rivals, who have already fought three wars since their independence 65 years ago, and it could put further strain on the ragged relations between the United States and Pakistan. Ansari's extradition from Riyadh - which officials say came after pressure from Washington and despite pleas from Islamabad for him not to be sent to India - may also have delivered a jolt to Pakistan's traditionally close relations with Saudi Arabia. "A WINDOW INTO THE CONTROL ROOM" Indian investigators say Ansari, who is also known as Abu Jundal and Abu Hamza, has confessed he was in the "control room" talking the gunmen through their operation by satellite phone. They believe that, alongside him there, was Hafiz Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group whose emergence the ISI nurtured in the 1990s as a proxy to fight Indian forces in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. Earlier this year the United States placed a $10 million bounty on Saeed's head, but he still moves freely around Pakistan. Ansari's arrest may turn out to be far more critical to shedding light on the command and control of the 2008 attacks than Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the only gunman to be taken alive and who is now on death row in a Mumbai prison. "It is a window into the control room, who set it up, who was coming into it, who was going out," said Ajit Doval, a former head of the Intelligence Bureau, India's domestic spy agency, which has been questioning its prize catch at an undisclosed location. "It takes us one step closer to the role of Pakistani establishment in the attacks. That will be the big worry in Islamabad," said Doval. Indian officials caution that they are unlikely to find a smoking gun leading directly to the headquarters of Pakistan's powerful military, but they say Ansari's arrest nonetheless provides crucial details suggesting some level of complicity. A Pakistani security official told Reuters there was quite simply no ISI involvement, and there wasn't even a control room. A QUIET AND SHY BOY Ansari carried a Pakistani passport - a fake, the Pakistani security official said. He was born 30 years ago in India, and brought up in a village near the dusty town of Beed, some 350 km (220 miles) east of Mumbai. When he was about 15, his family moved to a Muslim-dominated neighborhood in Beed town, a crowded and down-at-heel area with narrow lanes, dug-up roads, open drains, a vegetable market and two mosques. Locals say that Ansari was a timid and quiet boy, coming off worst when there were street brawls and barely making a mark at school. "None of the teachers remember teaching him," said Bharat Sonavane, principal at Beed's Balbhim College for Art, Science and Commerce, where Ansari was a student. Trained as an electrician, he found work that brought money for a family struggling to make ends meet, including one job re-wiring the local police headquarters. Ansari suddenly disappeared in 2006 after police linked him to an arms haul case. For the next six years his family received no word of him, until last month when his bearded face was splashed on news networks announcing his deportation and arrest. "We thought he might be dead by now," said Ansari's mother, Rehana, a 65-year-old diabetes sufferer who spoke to Reuters from her father's tiny home in Beed. "One night he just left home and we didn't hear from him for almost six years. No phone call, no letter," she said, holding back tears in pale green eyes framed by a black burqa, the all-enveloping garment worn by many Muslim women on the subcontinent. "It pains us ... we never imagined our Zubi would be linked to this." ATTACKERS COACHED IN HINDI Shortly after nightfall on November 26, 2008, three inflatable speedboats pulled up on the shores of Mumbai. The 10 men aboard had sailed across the Arabian Sea from Karachi for days, hijacking an Indian trawler on their way and killing its crew. When they were accosted by local residents, the men were prepared. Ansari told his interrogators that he had coached the gunmen to speak Hindi with a local accent so that their assault could be passed off as a home-grown attack rather than traced back to Pakistan: at one point during the operation he scolded them for not using the proper dialect. Indian officials who analyzed the phone conversations with the gunmen had long suspected that one of the handlers was an Indian because he used words only a fluent Hindi speaker would use, while the others spoke the mix of Punjabi and Urdu common to large parts of Pakistan. Ansari, investigators say, has provided the names of four other people in the Karachi control room, which New Delhi maintains could not have operated without some state support. Two of them he named as Sajid Mir, also known as Sajid Majid, and Sameer Ali. A Pakistani-American, David Headley, who was convicted of scouting targets in Mumbai ahead of the attacks, gave the same two names to a Chicago court last year as helping mount the operation. Headley identified Sameer Ali as a major in the ISI who had recruited him when he was briefly detained near the Pakistan-Afghan border in 2006 and Sajid Mir as a man handling foreign recruits for the LeT. Mir was also believed to be the handler of a Frenchman accused of plotting an attack in Australia soon after the September 11 attacks. French judge Jean-Louis Brugiere who investigated the case said he believed Mir was an officer of the Pakistani military. Ansari's revelations could have a bearing on investigations in the United States, where families of six Americans who were killed in the Mumbai attack have filed lawsuits alleging that the head of the ISI at the time, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, and other operatives helped the LeT plan and orchestrate its operation. "We believe Ansari's interrogation provides further corroboration of active ISI support in the attacks," said an official of the Indian Intelligence Bureau. "They were physically present in the control room." EXTREMISTS IN INDIA'S BACKYARD Pakistan, which has conducted its own investigation into the Mumbai assault and indicted seven members of the LeT - an organization it has officially banned - roundly rejects the charge that members of the ISI were involved. "The Mumbai plot came to the attention of the ISI in 2005 or 2006," the Pakistani security official said. "The leadership of the LeT was contacted and told not to go ahead with it. But the LeT waited. After Pasha took over as ISI chief, they managed to slip under the radar and carry it out." He said five handlers were scattered across Pakistan at the time, not together in a control room. Ansari himself was in the Sindh town of Thatta, speaking to the men in Mumbai from a Thuraya satellite phone. The Pakistani prime minister's adviser on interior affairs, Rehman Malik, said Ansari's involvement showed that India had extremists in its own backyard who were being sent to Pakistan. "I have the right to know how he was radicalized - was he radicalized through Muslim extremism or was he radicalized through Hindu extremism?" Malik told Reuters in an interview during a visit to London last weekend. Indian investigators said that after leaving his hometown in 2006, Ansari crossed the porous border with Bangladesh and travelled by air to Pakistan. But it was not until some time in 2008 that they established his presence there. The security official in Islamabad said Ansari first went to Pakistan during a brief conflict with India in the Kargil district of Kashmir in 1999, which broke out after Pakistani soldiers and militants poured across the de facto border between the two countries there. "He thought he could just join the mujahideen on his own, but he didn't manage," the official said, describing Ansari as someone who "really believes Muslims are being suppressed around the world". SAUDI HELP Early last year, Ansari obtained his fake Pakistani passport and flew to Saudi Arabia, where - the official in Islamabad said - the LeT thought he could blend in with the many Pakistani laborers there. Indian police believe he was "talent-spotting" in Saudi Arabia in preparation for another "massive attack". However, he was arrested there a few months later. That was the starting point for a year-long effort by Indian intelligence to convince Riyadh that - despite the Pakistani passport - he was an Indian citizen and must be sent back. "We kept telling them, don't send him to Pakistan, he is our man and if he went there he would be lost to us. In July (last year) we told the U.S. to prevent him from going to Pakistan," the Indian intelligence bureau officer said. In May of this year, the United States put its foot down, telling Saudi Arabia there was overwhelming evidence that Ansari was an Indian national wanted for the attacks. "The decision of the Saudi authorities to transfer Ansari to Indian custody, mindful of the unhappiness of Pakistan, will be seen in Pakistan as a blow to its much-vaunted relationship with Saudi Arabia," said Bahukutumbi Raman, a former head of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing. He said Riyadh's move reflected a growing fear that the LeT may act as a Trojan horse on its soil for al Qaeda, which is now on the backfoot in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Why did the Saudis eventually agree to give him up? And that, too, to a non-Islamic country? We know they have given suspects to the U.S. but not to us," said Doval, the former Indian Intelligence Bureau chief. "That's a shift." (Additional reporting by Michael Georgy in ISLAMABAD, Kaustubh Kulkarni in BEED, India, Myra MacDonald and Avril Ormsby in LONDON and Tabassum Zakaria in WASHINGTON; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) World Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Support Corrections Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use AdChoices Copyright Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Analysis: Mexico's creaky economy to test Pena Nieto's ambitions |
U.S., Pakistan deal seen soon on Afghan supply routes |
Insight: Voice of Mumbai attacks points finger at Pakistan |
U.N. confirms Saudi dissident, group off al Qaeda list |
Military draft dispute shakes Israel coalition |
Russia's PM Medvedev launches Far East bridge |
Afghanistan accuses Pakistan army of rocket attacks |
Libya frees detained ICC staff after apology |
Microsoft takes $6.2 billion charge, slows Internet hopes |
Google offers to settle EU antitrust probe |
Ad exec sues Interpublic over Facebook investment |
Mobile phone firms back Mozilla Firefox rival to Android |
Occupy protester's tweets must be handed over: judge |
Sourcefire CEO takes medical leave |
Pop singer Katy Perry fearless in warts and all film portrayal |
CNN's Anderson Cooper says the fact is, I'm gay |
HBO renews Newsroom and True Blood |
Raf Simons makes dazzling Dior debut with floral bounty |
Syria running 27 torture centers: rights group |
Syria strikes Damascus suburb; U.N. decries arms flow |
Bombs targeting pilgrims in Iraq kill four, wound 21 |
Fire put out at Angarsk oil storage site in Russia |
For Philippines leader, it's war on graft, tax evasion |
Russia's Medvedev lands on disputed Far East island |
Yudhoyono proposes Australia-U.S.-Indonesia exercises |
Myanmar parliament's agenda: reshaping the economy |
Samsung loses bid to lift ban on U.S. tablet sales |
India telecoms tribunal gives split verdict in 3G roaming dispute |
KPN says interim CFO to get job permanently |
Japan's Renesas seeks to cut 12 percent of workforce, sell plants |
Google sees advantage in making new gadget in USA |
Microsoft takes $6.2 billion charge, slows Internet hopes |
Citi hires Bank of America technology banker Herb Yeh |
Holmes faces Cruise, Scientology in fight for Suri |
Mel Gibson's stepmother seeks stay-away order |
Iran says it test-fires missiles in war of nerves |
Police raid ex-president Sarkozy's home in funding probe |
Pakistan: closure of NATO routes into Afghanistan harms U.S. ties |
Church of England vote on women bishops could be derailed |
UK could curb migration if euro crisis worsens: PM |
Yemen air strikes kill four al Qaeda suspects: witnesses |
Greece eyes revival without jeopardizing bailout targets |
German CSU threatens to quit Merkel coalition over euro |
Activision takes free Call of Duty online to China |
Apple says disagrees with Italy antitrust complaint |
RIM CEO says nothing wrong with company |
Intel fights $1.3 billion EU antitrust fine in court |
With Micron buy, less boom and bust in DRAM chips |
Actor Andy Griffith dies in North Carolina |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph	VPN on MacOSX	BlogMeter 1.01