ISLAMOFILE 120208: Obama Is Warned Of Nuclear-Enabled Iran In His First Year

Iran poses the greatest foreign policy challenge to the new president with Tehran on course to produce a nuclear bomb in the first year of an Obama administration, an unprecedented coalition of top think tanks warned yesterday.

Barack Obama must follow through on his promises of direct talks with Tehran and engage the Middle East region as a whole if he is to halt a looming crisis that could be revisited on the United States, the experts warned.

“Diplomacy is not guaranteed to work: it is not,” Richard Hass, one of the authors said. “But the other options – military action or living with an Iranian weapon are sufficiently unattractive for it to warrant serious commitment.”

The warnings came in a report called “Restoring the Balance,” a Middle East strategy for the incoming president drafted by the Council for Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution. Gary Samore, one of the authors, said the level of alarm over the “hornet’s nest” facing the new president in the Middle East, and the need for the swift adoption of previously untested approach, had inspired the unprecedented decision to write policy for him. “New administrations can choose new policies but they can’t choose next contexts,” Mr. Samore said. “This is what they inherit.”

The report paints a grim picture of the problems in the region but asserts that Mr. Obama is still in a strong position to exploit the positives. For the first time since the Iranian revolution, the leadership in Tehran has endorsed the idea of talking directly with Washington, as Mr. Obama has suggested. Falling oil prices also provide a new opportunity, restricting Iran’s means to sponsor terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that act as its proxy in the region.

The new administration, however, must not fall into the trap of treating Iran in isolation to the rest of the Middle East, as the previous administration did, but deal with it as part of a larger jigsaw within the region.

Syria, which has shown tentative signs of a desire for better relations with the West, and has held negotiations with Israel through Turkish interlocutors, could be the idea test case for a new diplomatic approach. “Syria is a natural candidate for direct contact,” Mr. Hass said, as part of “a greater embrace of diplomacy with out preconditions” that should be extended to Iran.

The report laid blame for much of the crisis squarely with the Bush administration, whose war in Iraq fuelled Iran’s ascendancy as a regional power. But the authors warned against an “ABB” – anything but Bush – approach, urging Mr. Obama to build on some of the changes in direction over the last two years. “Change for sake of change is not a good idea,” Mr. Hass said. “Great powers have to be predictable.”

Mr. Obama must also team up with Arab countries for an urgent push to resolve the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, they said. Efforts by the Quartet – created “by mistake over vodkas at the Russian ambassador’s house,” according to Mr. Indyk, who was present, were necessarily limited because of the lack of Arab representation. “Time is not working in favour of a resolution,” he warned, noting the hardening of Israeli public opinion. “There is a real danger that support for a two-state resolution will falter.” (source)

Cold War 21: Russia Announces New System To Avoid US Missile Shield

Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov with President Medvedev.

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's military is planning to upgrade its missiles to allow them to evade American weapons in space and penetrate any prospective missile shield, a Russian general said Monday.
In comments to the Interfax news agency, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces chief, Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, as saying that Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles will be modernized to protect them from space-based components of the U.S. missile defense system.

The upgrade will make the missiles' warheads capable of flying "outside the range" of the space-based system, Solovtsov was quoted as saying.

He didn't elaborate, but Russian officials have previously boasted about prospective new warheads capable of making sharp maneuvers to dodge missile defense systems.

Solovtsov also reportedly said the military will commission new RS-24 missiles equipped with state-of-the-art systems to help penetrate a missile shield. He did not specify that Moscow intended to penetrate a U.S. missile shield, but the Kremlin has fiercely opposed the U.S. plan to deploy a battery of 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a related radar in the Czech Republic.

Russia has criticized U.S. plans for space-based weapons, saying they could trigger a new arms race. Washington has resisted efforts by Russia and China to negotiate a global ban on weapons in space.

Reflecting Russia's suspicions about U.S. intentions, Solovtsov alleged Monday that the U.S. is considering the scenario of a first nuclear strike that would destroy most Russian missiles. A few surviving Russian weapons launched in retaliation could then be destroyed by the U.S. missile defense system.

Solovtsov said the concept was not feasible.

"The Americans will never be able to implement this scenario, because Russian strategic nuclear forces, including the Strategic Missile Forces, will be capable of delivering a strike of retribution under any course of developments," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.

U.S. officials have said repeatedly that the prospective missile defense system isn't intended to be used against Russia. But Russian leaders have dismissed U.S. claims that the sites in Poland and the Czech Republic are intended to counter a missile threat from Iran, saying they will threaten Russia's nuclear forces.

The day after Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election, President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia will respond to the U.S. plans by deploying short-range missiles in its westernmost Kaliningrad region near Poland.

Medvedev and his predecessor and mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, then took a step back, saying that Russia will only make the move if the U.S. deploys the missile defense in Europe. They expressed hope that the new U.S. administration will scrap the plan.

Although windfall oil revenues allowed the Kremlin to boost military budgets, Russian arms makers have had trouble producing new weapons because of the loss of key technologies and the exodus of qualified workers. The prospective Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile for nuclear submarines, for example, has failed repeatedly over the years.

However, officials said a Bulava test last week was a success, and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday the test program was to be completed next year. He said the missile has already been ordered into serial production. (source)

ISLAMOFILE 113008: As Pakistani-Indian Tensions Rise To "War Levels", Rice Visits

Pakistani-Indian border.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has appealed to India not to punish his country for last week's attacks in Mumbai, saying militants have the power to precipitate a war in the region, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Zardari, whose wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by Islamist militants last year, warned that provocation by rogue "non-state actors" posed the danger of a return to war between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

"Even if the militants are linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, who do you think we are fighting?" asked Zardari in an interview with the Financial Times.

"We live in troubled times where non-state actors have taken us to war before, whether it is the case of those who perpetrated (the) 9/11 (attacks on the United States) or contributed to the escalation of the situation in Iraq," said Zardari.

"Now, events in Mumbai tell us that there are ongoing efforts to carry out copycat attacks by militants. We must all stand together to fight out this menace."

The Mumbai assaults that killed nearly 200 people bore the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group blamed for previous attacks in India.

Indian officials have said most, perhaps all, of the 10 Islamist attackers who held Mumbai hostage with frenzied attacks using assault rifles and grenades came from Pakistan, a Muslim nation carved out of Hindu-majority India in 1947.

The fallout from the three-day rampage in Mumbai, India's commercial center, has threatened to unravel India's improving ties with Pakistan and prompted the resignation of India's security minister.

RICE VISIT

The White House said on Sunday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to India on Wednesday, as analysts warned the United States could get ensnared in the row and it may prove to be a setback in the war on Islamic radicals on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

"Secretary Rice's visit to India is a further demonstration of the United States' commitment to stand in solidarity with the people of India as we all work together to hold these extremists accountable," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.

Rice will arrive in New Delhi on Wednesday after attending a NATO meeting in London on Tuesday.
New Delhi has said it was raising security to a "war level" and had no doubt of a Pakistani link to the attacks, which unleashed anger at home over the intelligence failure and the delayed response to the violence that paralyzed India's financial capital.

Officials in Islamabad have warned any escalation would force it to divert troops to the Indian border and away from a U.S.-led anti-militant campaign on the Afghan frontier.

Zardari has vowed to crack down if given proof.

But security officials in Islamabad said Pakistan would move troops from its western border with Afghanistan, where forces are battling al Qaeda and Taliban fighters as part of the U.S.-led campaign against militancy, to the Indian border if tension escalated.

"It's part of the usual blackmail of the United States that Pakistan does to take more interest in India-Pakistan issues," said B. Raman, a former head of Indian intelligence agency RAW.

"They think this kind of argument will make the United States sit up and take notice of their sensitivities and do something about it," he added, referring to warming ties between Washington and New Delhi, including a nuclear accord.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday he would boost and overhaul the nation's counterterrorism capabilities, an announcement which came after Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned over the attacks. (source)

US On Iraqi Presence, According To President Elect Obama: We're Out in 16 Months, But Not Really

CHICAGO (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama said on Monday he believed U.S. combat troops should leave Iraq within 16 months of his taking office but he would listen to advice from military commanders.

"I believe that 16 months is the right timeframe but, as I've said consistently, I will listen to the recommendations of my commanders," Obama said after unveiling his nominees for top national security posts.

Obama said a new security pact between Iraq and the United States already put the United States on a "glide path" to pulling out of Iraq. He also noted that a "residual" U.S. force may need to remain in Iraq longer than combat troops. (source)

ISLAMOFILE 120108: Mumbai Massacre Causes Indian Leaders To Resign

A second top Indian politician offered to resign on Monday as the Indian government came under intense pressure over its handling of the Mumbai attacks, which claimed at least 192 lives in a rampage by a team of well-organised terrorists.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra state chief minister and a member of the ruling Congress party, said on Monday he had offered to resign following the terror attacks. (source)

Somali Pirates Now Hijack A Luxury Cruise Liner

The Oceania Nautica was attacked by pirates on Sunday morning.

A luxury cruise ship carrying dozens of British passengers has been attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia, en route to Oman.

The Oceania Nautica was fired at during its 32-day voyage from Rome to Singapore.

The ship – carrying 690 passengers and 386 crew – was approached yesterday by two small skiffs which fired several shots.

No one on board was hurt and Nautica's captain Jurica Brajcic was able to take evasive action and outrun the two boats.

"One of the skiffs did manage to close the range to 300 yards and fired eight rifle shots in the direction of the vessel before trailing off," said a statement by Oceania. "No one aboard Nautica was harmed and no damage was sustained."

29 Britons are on board the cruise ship, which is due to arrive in Oman today. Passengers paid an average of £15,000 for the cruise.

Last week's capture of the 330-metre Sirius Star, containing two million barrels of oil, was the largest of nearly 100 vessels to be attacked off the coast of Somalia this year.

However, the interception of a cruise ship is far less common. The Gulf of Aden is regularly crossed by cruise ships and the waters are patrolled by anti-piracy forces.

The last such incident involving a cruise ship occurred in November 2005 when the liner Seabourn Spirit was fired upon with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, injuring one crew member.

A spokeswoman for the Passenger Shipping Association - which represents Oceania Cruises - described the incident as a rarity, and maintained that cruising was a safe way to travel.

"Safety is of utmost importance to all cruise companies," she said.

"Each ship must follow security standards and procedures to ensure the well-being of passengers and staff, and they liase with national security and intelligence agencies."

The size of cruise ships means that it can be difficult to board them from smaller vessels. When threatened, some liners possess long-range acoustic devices (LRAD), which emit high frequency noise, to deter potential attackers.(source)

ISLAMOFILE 120108: Mumbai May Have Five More Terrorists At Large

Indian Black Cat Commando Rhys Blakely in Mumbai

At least five terrorist gunmen might have escaped the carnage in Mumbai and could strike again, it emerged yesterday as a video surfaced showing the capture of the gang’s sole known surviving member.

The prospect of more killers added to public anger at the Indian Government’s lax handling of the worst terror strike to hit the country in 15 years.

The security forces claimed that only ten militants – nine of whom were killed and one caught alive – were behind the coordinated attacks that claimed nearly 200 lives. Rakesh Maria, a joint commissioner of police, said: “Their plan was just to cause maximum damage and return with hostages protecting themselves.”

However, a hijacked Indian fishing boat used by the gunmen had equipment for 15 men on board when it was discovered adrift – suggesting that several gunmen could still be at large.

“Fifteen winter jackets were found, fifteen toothbrushes,” a police source said. “That more terrorists are loose is possible.”

Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only gunman to be caught alive, said during police questioning that 24 men were trained in camps in Pakistan for the mission, according to a leaked account of his police interrogation.

He has since claimed, apparently, that only ten made the final trip to Mumbai, including him. Police are continuing to question the 21-year-old, who has said that he and his accomplices planned to kill 5,000 people.

Security experts say that a force of ten heavily armed men could carry out an operation on the scale of the Mumbai strike only if they received extensive training and local support.

Investigators believe that at least five or six additional people were immediately involved in preparing for the attacks by organising logistics and carrying out reconnaissance.

Grainy mobile phone footage broadcast yesterday by Sky Television sheds little light on the militants’ methods, but it documents the capture of the “baby-faced gunman”.

It shows Kasab’s last stand: a small crowd is seen shouting and beating a man lying on the ground in a Mumbai street as police officers, blowing whistles and waving long sticks, try to restore order.

Police say that Kasab arrived with the other militants in two dinghies that moored on the seafront by the Gateway of India, near the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. The militants then commandeered several cars and set off towards ten different sites across the city.

Kasab and one other gunman, Abu Ismail, headed straight for Chhat-rapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai’s main railway station, where they opened fire with AK47s, killing dozens. It was there that he was photographed, holding his AK47 in one hand, in an image that has been seen around the world.

“They were right there,” recalled Sebastian D’Souza, the man who took the photograph, pointing to the spot on the platform where he first saw the gunmen. “They never raised their guns, they were very cool. They just kept firing from their hips,” he told Sky News.

“I saw lots of people shot dead, just lying there, nobody caring for them,” he said. “If somebody had engaged them in some crossfire . . . ” But no one did, so Kasab and his accomplice moved on to Cama hospital, according to Mumbai police.

There he and Abu Ismail shot dead three of India’s top police officers who were rushing to the scene in a vehicle. The terrorists continued on their shooting spree, firing shots in the air at the Metro Cinema until their vehicle suffered a puncture.

Kasab and Abu Ismail then stole a golden Skoda Laura and were driving it towards Chowpatty beach, a popular evening destination for families in south Mumbai, when they were intercepted by a police team.

Abu Ismail was killed in the shoot-out, while Kasab was shot in his hand, according to police. It was then that he was attacked by the mob as shown in the mobile phone footage.



Initially he pretended to be dead, and was being taken to hospital when a police officer realised that he was breathing, according to Indian media reports. They said that when he reached hospital he told staff there: “I don’t want to die.” Later, after a police interrogation, he reportedly said: “Now I don’t want to live.” (source)

ISLAMOFILE 113008: Surviving Victim Of The Mumbai Massacre Recounts What He Saw

MUMBAI, India (AP) _ The only gunman captured after a 60-hour terrorist siege of Mumbai said he belonged to a Pakistani militant group with links to the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, a senior police officer said Sunday.

The gunman was one of 10 who paralyzed the city in an attack that killed at least 174 people and revealed the weakness of India's security apparatus. India's top law enforcement official resigned, bowing to growing criticism that the attackers appeared better trained, better coordinated and better armed than police.

The announcement blaming militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, threatened to escalate tensions between India and Pakistan. However, Indian officials have been cautious about accusing Pakistan's government of complicity.

A U.S. counterterrorism official had said some "signatures of the attack" were consistent with Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed, another group that has operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked to al-Qaida.
Lashkar, long seen as a creation of the Pakistani intelligence service to help fight India in disputed Kashmir, was banned in Pakistan in 2002 under pressure from the U.S., a year after Washington and Britain listed it a terrorist group. It is since believed to have emerged under another name, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, though that group has denied links to the Mumbai attack.

Authorities were still removing bodies from the bullet and grenade scarred Taj Mahal hotel, a day after commandos finally ended the violence that began Wednesday night.

As more details of the response to the attack emerged, a picture formed of woefully unprepared security forces. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised to strengthen maritime and air security and look into creating a new federal investigative agency — even as some analysts doubted fundamental change was possible.

"These guys could do it next week again in Mumbai and our responses would be exactly the same," said Ajai Sahni, head of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management who has close ties to India's police and intelligence.

Joint Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said the only known surviving gunman, Ajmal Qasab, told police he was trained at a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Pakistan.

"Lashkar-e-Taiba is behind the terrorist acts in the city," he said.

A spokesman for Pakistani President Asif Zardari's spokesman dismissed the claim.

"We have demanded evidence of the complicity of any Pakistani group. No evidence has yet been provided," said spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

In the first wave of the attacks, two young gunmen armed with assault rifles blithely ignored more than 60 police officers patrolling the city's main train station and sprayed bullets into the crowd.

Bapu Thombre, assistant commissioner with the Mumbai railway police, said the police were armed mainly with batons or World War I-era rifles and spread out across the station.

"They are not trained to respond to major attacks," he said.

The gunmen continued their rampage outside the station. They eventually ambushed a police van, killed five officers inside — including the city's counterterrorism chief — and hijacked the vehicle as two wounded officers lay bleeding in the back seat.

"The way Mumbai police handled the situation, they were not combat ready," said Jimmy Katrak, a security consultant. "You don't need the Indian army to neutralize eight to nine people."

Constable Arun Jadhav, one of the wounded policemen, said the men laughed when they noticed the dead officers wore bulletproof vests.

With no SWAT team in this city of 18 million, authorities called in the only unit in the country trained to deal with such crises. But the National Security Guards, which largely devotes its resources to protecting top officials, is based outside of New Delhi and it took the commandos nearly 10 hours to reach the scene.

That gave the gunmen time to consolidate control over two luxury hotels and a Jewish center, said Sahni.
As the siege at dragged on, local police improperly strapped on ill-fitting bulletproof vests. Few had two-way radios to communicate.

Even the commandos lacked the proper equipment, including night vision goggles and thermal sensors that would have allowed them to locate the hostages and gunmen inside the buildings, Sahni said.

Security forces announced they had killed four gunmen and ended the siege at the mammoth Taj Mahal hotel on Thursday night, only to have fighting erupt there again the next day. Only on Saturday morning did they actually kill the last remaining gunmen.

At the Jewish center, commandos rappelled from a helicopter onto the roof and slowly descended the narrow, five-story building in a 10-hour shooting and grenade battle with the two gunmen inside.
From his home in Israel, Assaf Hefetz, a former Israeli police commissioner who created the country's police anti-terror unit three decades ago, watched the slow-motion operation in disbelief.

The commandos should have swarmed the building in a massive, coordinated attack that would have overwhelmed the gunmen and ended the standoff in seconds, he said.

"You have to come from the roof and all the windows and all the doors and create other entrances by demolition charges," he said.

The slow pace of the operations made it appear that the commandos' main goal was to stay safe, Hefetz said.

"You have to take the chance and the danger that your people can be hurt and some of them will be killed, but do it much faster and ensure the operation will be finished (quickly)," Hefetz said.

J. K. Dutt, director-general of the commando unit, defended their tactics.

"We have conducted the operation in the way we are trained and in the way we like to do it," he said.

Singh promised to expand the commando force and set up new bases for it around the country. He called a rare meeting of leaders from the country's main political parties, hours after the resignation of Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

"In the face of this national threat and in the aftermath of this national tragedy, all of us from different political parties must rise above narrow political considerations and stand united," he said.

President George W. Bush told Singh in a telephone call that "out of this tragedy can come an opportunity to hold these extremists accountable and demonstrate the world's shared commitment to combat terrorism," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement.

Among the foreigners killed in the coordinated shooting rampage in India's financial capital were six Americans. The dead also included Germans, Canadians, Israelis and nationals from Britain, Italy, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia and Singapore.

Sahni called for an overhaul of the nation's police force — the first line of defense against a future attack — providing better weapons, better equipment and real training.

R.R. Patil, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state where Mumbai is located, said the government was "taking all action to ensure that this will never take place again." (source)

Cold War 21: Russian Communists Admit That The World Economic Crisis Is Good For Them

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov greets the audience during Party's annual congress in Moscow, November 29, 2008.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Communists expect the global financial crisis will cause social unrest and help them challenge for power, the party's leader said on Saturday.

Gennady Zyuganov told the party's annual congress the Communists should make maximum use of the growing public discontent caused by the economic downturn to try to restore their political strength.

"The wind of history is blowing in our sails again ... At this time of crisis the world of imperialism is starting to die. We are standing on the threshold of political and social shifts," Zyuganov said in a 2-hour speech opening the congress.

Russia's Communists ruled the Soviet Union for eight decades and remained a major opposition force for several years after the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.

But the party has since lost much of its authority and many analysts say it is too weak to seriously challenge for power.

The Russian authorities are trying to minimise the impact of the financial crisis by promising billions of dollars of state aid. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has pledged higher social payments to the needy and lower taxes for business.

"The authorities are clearly not coping with managing the country ... A mass social protest is brewing and it is hard to predict now when and in what shape it will explode," Zyuganov said.

The Kremlin has acknowledged the crisis will lead to a rise in popular discontent, challenging the massive popularity that Putin secured in eight years as president and handed on to his successor, Dmitry Medvedev.

Medvedev has ordered police to stamp out any social unrest arising from the crisis and Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has said higher unemployment could lead to a rise in crime.

"We should secure the support of society well before the political crisis comes ... We have to squeeze everything we can from this situation," Zyuganov said.

Zyuganov trailed far behind Medvedev at the presidential election in March and his party's contingent in parliament is dwarfed by the pro-Kremlin majority.

Many Russians associate Communist rule with empty shelves in the shops and endless queues.

Russia has been among the biggest losers from the global financial crisis. The benchmark RTS stock exchange has fallen about 70 percent since peaks in May, and the rouble has been hit by tumbling prices for oil, Russia's main export.

The impact on ordinary people so far has been limited, partly because share ownership is not widespread and few people have private pensions. But firms in some sectors have started laying off staff.

Russia's liberal opposition movement, Solidarity, also predicts that the fallout from the economic crisis will force Putin and Medvedev from power by 2012. (source)

Somali Pirates Seize Indian Vessel, British Safety Guards Escape Then Rescued

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Somali pirates hijacked a chemical tanker with dozens of Indian crew members Friday and a helicopter rescued three British security guards who had jumped into the sea, officials said.

A warship on patrol nearby sent helicopters to intervene in the attack, but they arrived after pirates had taken control of the Liberian-flagged ship, according to Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Malaysia.

The ship master had sent a distress call to the piracy reporting center, which relayed the alert to international forces policing Somali waters, Choong said. No details about how the pirates attacked or the condition of the crew were available immediately.

Choong said the ship was being operated out of Singapore.

Still on board were 25 Indian and two Bangladeshi crew members, said diplomats who could not be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media. The British security guards escaped by jumping into the water, said a news release issued by their company, Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions.

The company said it was aware of the incident on the chemical tanker it identified as M/V BISCAGLIA.

"We have been informed by coalition military authorities that three of our unarmed security staff were rescued from the water by a coalition helicopter and are currently on board a coalition warship in the Gulf of Aden," the company statement said.

German Defense Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe confirmed that a naval helicopter lifted three people out of the water in the Gulf of Aden at about 4 a.m. Friday morning and deposited them on a French ship.

Germany and France have ships in the area as part of a NATO fleet which, along with warships from Denmark, India, Malaysia, Russia and the U.S., have started patrolling the vast maritime corridor. They escort some merchant ships and respond to distress calls.

The ship hijacked Friday was the 97th vessel to be attacked this year off Somalia, where an Islamic insurgency and lack of effective government have contributed to an increase in pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden.

Ships "must continue to maintain a 24-hour vigil and radar watch so they can take early measures to escape pirates. Even though there are patrols, the warships cannot be everywhere at the same time," Choong said.

Pirates have become increasingly brazen in the Gulf, a major international shipping lane through which about 20 tankers sail daily.

Forty ships have been hijacked this year, including a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil Nov. 15.

Pirates demanding multimillion-dollar ransoms hold 15 ships and nearly 300 crew, Choong said.

Somalia, an impoverished nation in the Horn of Africa, has not had a functioning government since 1991.

ISLAMOFILE 113008: At Mumbai, Indian Policemen Hid And Didn't Fire Their Weapons

A gunman walks at the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal railway station in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008.

It is the photograph that has dominated the world's front pages, casting an astonishing light on the fresh-faced killers who brought terror to the heart of India's most vibrant city. Now it can be revealed how the astonishing picture came to be taken by a newspaper photographer who hid inside a train carriage as gunfire erupted all around him.

Citizens and police officers walk during the funeral procession of Hemant Karkare, the chief of Mumbai's Anti-Terrorist Squad, who was killed by gunmen,photograph seen, in Mumbai, India, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008.

Sebastian D'Souza, a picture editor at the Mumbai Mirror, whose offices are just opposite the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji station, heard the gunfire erupt and ran towards the terminus. "I ran into the first carriage of one of the trains on the platform to try and get a shot but couldn't get a good angle, so I moved to the second carriage and waited for the gunmen to walk by," he said. "They were shooting from waist height and fired at anything that moved. I briefly had time to take a couple of frames using a telephoto lens. I think they saw me taking photographs but theydidn't seem to care."

Unidentified relatives of Bimolchandra Singh, Oberoi Trident hotel's manager who died during Mumbai shooting, wail as his body arrives at Imphal, India, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008.

The gunmen were terrifyingly professional, making sure at least one of them was able to fire their rifle while the other reloaded. By the time he managed to capture the killer on camera, Mr D'Souza had already seen two gunmen calmly stroll across the station concourse shooting both civilians and policemen, many of whom, he said, were armed but did not fire back. "I first saw the gunmen outside the station," Mr D'Souza said. "With their rucksacks and Western clothes they looked like backpackers, not terrorists, but they were very heavily armed and clearly knew how to use their rifles.

A woman cries as the body of Hemant Karkare, the chief of Mumbai's Anti-Terrorist Squad is taken for cremation in Mumbai, India, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008.

"Towards the station entrance, there are a number of bookshops and one of the bookstore owners was trying to close his shop," he recalled. "The gunmen opened fire and the shopkeeper fell down."

Kavita Karkare, right, wife of Hemant Karkare, the chief of Mumbai's Anti-Terrorist Squad, arrives for his funeral in Mumbai, India, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008.

But what angered Mr D'Souza almost as much were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. "There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything," he said. "At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, 'Shoot them, they're sitting ducks!' but they just didn't shoot back."

Relatives and neighbors mourn as they attend the funeral of Haresh Gohil, a 16 year old boy who was killed by gunmen near Chabad-Lubavitch center,also known as Nariman House in Mumbai, India, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008.

As the gunmen fired at policemen taking cover across the street, Mr D'Souza realised a train was pulling into the station unaware of the horror within. "I couldn't believe it. We rushed to the platform and told everyone to head towards the back of the station. Those who were older and couldn't run, we told them to stay put."


The militants returned inside the station and headed towards a rear exit towards Chowpatty Beach. Mr D'Souza added: "I told some policemen the gunmen had moved towards the rear of the station but they refused to follow them. What is the point if having policemen with guns if they refuse to use them? I only wish I had a gun rather than a camera." (source)

ISLAMOFILE 113008: Sole Surviving Mumbai Terrorist Exclaims That He Belongs To Pakistani Group Lashkar-e-Taiba

The only terrorist captured alive after the Mumbai massacre has given police the first full account of the extraordinary events that led to it – revealing he was ordered to ‘kill until the last breath’.

Azam Amir Kasab, 21, from Pakistan, said the attacks were meticulously planned six months ago and were intended to kill 5,000 people.

He revealed that the ten terrorists, who were highly trained in marine assault and crept into the city by boat, had planned to blow up the Taj Mahal Palace hotel after first executing British and American tourists and then taking hostages.

Mercifully, the group, armed with plastic explosives, underestimated the strength of the 105-year-old building’s solid foundations.



As it is, their deadly attacks have left close to 200 confirmed dead, with the toll expected to rise to nearly 300 once the hotel has been fully searched by security forces.

Yesterday, Kasab chillingly went through details of Wednesday night’s killing spree across the city, which ended when he was cornered by police.

He pretended to be dead, which probably saved his life. It was only when he was being transferred to hospital by ambulance that his accompanying officer noticed he was still breathing.

Once inside Nair Hospital, Kasab, who suffered only minor injuries, told medical staff: ‘I do not want to die. Please put me on saline.’

And as Indian commandos ended the bloody 59-hour siege at the Taj yesterday by killing the last three Islamic gunmen, baby-faced Kasab was dispassionately detailing the background to the mayhem.

He described how its mastermind briefed the group to ‘target whites, preferably Americans and British’.

Some of the militants, including Kasab, posed as students during a visit to Mumbai a month ago, filming the ‘strike locations’ and familiarising themselves with the city’s roads.

One police officer said: ‘That, thankfully, never happened because we managed to stop them.’ Police insist that Kasab confessed to being a member of the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has denied involvement in the carnage, and claimed he and the others were trained in the Muslim country.

Intelligence analysts are keeping more of an open mind, however. And some political observers point out an unhelpful tendency by the Indian authorities continually to blame ‘Pakistan elements’ without solid evidence.

Some speculative reports emerging from New Delhi even suggested Pakistan’s intelligence services had a hand in training the terrorists.

Meanwhile, claims that up to seven of the terrorists could have been British men of Pakistani origin, who had connections to West Yorkshire, were being widely discounted.



A top Indian official, Maharashtra state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, said there was ‘no authentic information’ to suggest that any British citizens were involved.

The UK Foreign Office also said there was ‘no evidence’ that any of the terrorists were British.

One report suggested that one of the terrorists had been working at the Taj hotel as a kitchen porter for up to eight months before the attacks and had produced a British passport during his job interview. But this was strongly denied by the hotel management.

Scotland Yard detectives arrived in Mumbai yesterday, but only to lend their assistance and expertise to the investigation.

According to the account of Kasab’s interrogation, given by police sources, the terrorists were trained over five months in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, then had a month off before the attacks. At some stage, they also received intensive instruction in ‘marine assault’ operations

Kasab and the nine other terrorists, who communicated using BlackBerry mobiles, began their journey to Mumbai on November 21.

Initially unarmed, they left an isolated beach near Karachi in a small boat, before being picked up the following day by a larger vessel.

At this point they were each given eight hand grenades, an AK-47 rifle, an automatic pistol and ammunition. And in anticipation of a lengthy siege, they also carried dried fruit.

Kasab told police that the group then hijacked a fishing trawler bearing the name Kuber near the maritime boundary between Pakistan and India.

Four of its crew are missing while the fifth has been found dead, apparently beheaded. Its owner and his brother are being questioned by police.

On November 23, after reaching Porbandar in the Indian state of Gujarat, 310 nautical miles from Mumbai, the insurgents were intercepted by two coastguard officers. The group hoisted a white flag and allowed the two men to board their boat.

According to Kasab, one of the militants then attacked one of the officers, slitting his throat and throwing him overboard. The other man was forced to help the group reach their destination before being executed as the vessel drew near to Mumbai.

For most of the journey, Kasab’s friend, 25-year-old Abu Ismail, a trained sailor, steered the vessel using GPS equipment. Three speedboats met the Kuber a mile and a half from the Mumbai seafront on Wednesday. After waiting for the light to fade, they moved off, later transferring to two inflatable dinghies to go ashore.

The two groups then split up. Four men went to to the Taj hotel, two to the Jewish centre of Nariman House, Kasab and another man set off by taxi towards the railway station, and two headed for the Leopold restaurant.

While his colleagues were executing hostages at the Taj, Kasab and Ismail first opened fire with their assault rifles at around 10.20pm, killing dozens of people standing at Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station.

The Harbour Bar at the Taj Mahal before attack.

The Harbour Bar after the attack.

Then they hijacked a police 4x4, killing the two officers inside. Kasab told investigators they continued their killing spree by attacking a petrol station and blowing up a taxi before being stopped.

‘I have done right,’ he told investigators. ‘I have no regrets.’

One police source said: ‘He [Kasab] was telling our people this in a most dispassionate way and responded to the horror their faces betrayed by shrugging his shoulders, as if it was all of no real consequence.’

Sources said tests on Kamal’s blood and urine showed he was under the influence of drugs to help keep him alert during the long battles with Indian security forces.
Guests who had been holed up during the three-day siege at the Taj hotel told of their ordeal yesterday.

Briton Richard Farah, who was trapped in his room before being rescued by commandos, hid his passport in his false leg after terrorists were reported to be seeking British and American passport holders.

‘I saw all the blood and broken glass and shrapnel. Tons of blood and shoes, people’s shoes, women’s shoes, men’s shoes,’ he said.

‘In the last few hours there were so many explosions and the floors shook.

I said, 'I’m a goner,' because it was right below me.

Eventually, we got to the lobby. I’d hidden my passport in my leg. If they had come to get me they wouldn’t have found it.’

Evidence was emerging last night that the the gunmen killed their victims early in the siege and fooled Indian security forces into thinking that they were holding hostages.

At the Sir J.J. Hospital morgue, an official said that of the 87 bodies he had examined, all but a handful had been killed during Wednesday night. (source)

ISLAMOFILE 112708: Mumbai Terrorists Are UK-born Pakistanis

At least five Jewish hostages held by Islamic terrorists in a Bombay appartment block have been killed, an Israeli diplomat has said, as it emerged that two of the attackers in India's commercial capital may have been British-born Pakistanis.

"Five bodies of hostages have been found. They are Israeli nationals," Eli Belotsercovsky, deputy chief of mission at the Israeli embassy in New Delhi, told the AFP news agency.

After a day of drama during which Indian commandos blasted their way through the six-storey block to rescue an unknown number of hostages at a Jewish outreach centre, it was unclear whether any had survived.

An Israeli rescue service which had sent a mission to help with the siege at the Chavad Lubavitch centre said that it thought all the hostages had been killed. "Apparently the hostages did not remain alive," the Zaka service said in a brief statement, quoting its staff in Bombay. It did not identify the hostages or say how many may have died.

The death toll from the co-ordinated terror attacks today reached at least 143, seven of them foreign, including one Briton.

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra state, Vilasrao Deshmukh, said today that two British-born Pakistanis were among eight gunmen arrested by Indian authorities.

Both Gordon Brown and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, played down the claim but without denying it outright. "It's too early to say whether any of them are British," Mr Miliband said.

The Times witnessed an Indian air force helicopter dropping no less than 17 commandos onto the roof of the block, Nariman House, at dawn this morning. Throughout the day, the building was rocked by gunfire and explosions as the commandos fought to gain control of the block floor by floor and reach the Jewish centre.



When commandos began to emerge from the building this evening, crowds waiting in the street outside began to celebrate the end of the siege - until they were warned that the site had not yet been fully secured.

Hundreds of people flooded into the streets surrounding the centre, cheering and applauding commando units who emerged from the building with their assault rifles raised. A military spokesman with a loud hailer appealed for the crowds to move back, saying the operation was not "fully over". Hasan Gafoor, the Bombay police chief, said that security personnel were still moving through the building "floor by floor, checking that everything is all right".

Indian special forces, meanwhile, gave their first account of the mission to liberate the Taj Mahal Palace, one of two luxury hotels seized by the terrorists. They described a sequence of running battles with gunmen in corridors and rooms strewn with dead bodies and seriously injured guests - battles which appeared to be coming to a climactic end this evening as the last one or two militants hung on against the security forces.

But officials claimed success in ending a siege of the luxury Oberoi hotel, where as many as 30 people had been held hostage. Commandos killed two gunmen as they seized control of the tower today.

"The hotel is under our control," Mr Dutt said. He said that 24 bodies had been recovered from the hotel, pushing the confirmed death toll from the coordinated attacks up to 143.

In New Delhi, a Government minister explicitly pointed the finger at Pakistan for the first time. "Preliminary evidence, prima facie evidence, indicates elements with links to Pakistan are involved," Pranab Mukherjee, the Foreign Minister, told a press conference. In Bombay, officials said that one of the militants arrested was a Pakistani national.



The Pakistani Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, responded with a call to India not to play politics with the Bombay attacks. "Do not bring politics into this issue. This is a collective issue. We are facing a common enemy and we should join hands to defeat the enemy," he said during a visit to the Indian town of Ajmer, which hosts an important Islamic shrine.

Nevertheless, Islamabad agreed to an Indian request to send the head of its military intelligence service, the ISI, to India to share information on the attacks.

The investigation into the al-Qaeda-style terror attacks is focusing on a fishing vessel that was found off the city's coast with a dead body aboard. It is thought that the vessel was used by the terrorists before they climbed aboard a smaller boat to land at Colaba, the tourist area in southern Bombay where the gunmen's targets are clustered.

The nationality of the dead man found on the boat is unknown, but one theory being pushed by many inside India's intelligence apparatus is that the boat's origin was Karachi, in Pakistan.

The gunmen were well trained and well prepared, apparently scouting targets ahead of time and carrying large bags of almonds and dried fruit to keep up their energy.

"It’s obvious they were trained somewhere ... Not everyone can handle the AK series of weapons or throw grenades like that," a senior office of India’s Marine Commando unit told reporters, his face wrapped in a black mask to protect his identity, told reporters today.

"These terrorists were very well informed regarding the layout of the hotel. In no time they vanished and were gone elsewhere. The kept moving around the hotel," the officer said.

Bags belonging to the terrorists contained hundreds of rounds of ammunition and grenades were recovered. A Mauritian national Id card, apparently that of one of the gunmen, was also found, together with seven credit cards and more than US$1,000 in cash.

The officer said that the Taj had been filled with terrified civilians, making it very difficult for the commandos to fire on the gunmen. "To try and avoid civilian casualties we had to be so much more careful," he said. "Bodies were strewn all over the place, and there was blood everywhere."

The commando added: "They were the kind of people with no remorse - anybody and whomsoever came in front of them they fired." (source)

ISLAMOFILE 112708: Mumbai Death Toll Climbing

"At least six foreigners have been killed and the death figure has gone up to 101 now," Ramesh Tayde, a senior police officer told from Mumbai's control room.

In one of the most violent terror attacks on Indian soil, Mumbai came under an unprecedented night attack as terrorists used heavy machine guns, including AK-47s, and grenades to strike at the city's most high-profile targets -- the hyper-busy CST (formerly VT) rail terminus; the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway and the luxury Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point; the domestic airport at Santa Cruz; the Cama and GT hospitals near CST; the Metro Adlabs multiplex and Mazgaon Dockyard -- killing at least 101 and sending hundreds of injured to hospital, according to latest reports.

The attacks have taken a tragic toll on the city's top police brass: The high-profile chief of the anti-terror squad Hemant Karkare was killed; Mumbai's additional commissioner of police (east) Ashok Kamte was gunned down outside the Metro; and celebrated encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar was also killed.



The attacks appeared to be aimed at getting international attention as the terrorists took upto 40 British nationals and other foreigners hostage. The chairman of Hindustan Unilever Harish Manwani and CEO of the company Nitin Paranjpe were among the guests trapped at the Oberoi. All the internal board members of the multinational giant were reported to be holed up in the Oberoi hotel.

Two terrorists were reported holed up inside the Oberoi Hotel. Fresh firing has been reported at Oberoi and Army has entered the hotel to flush out the terrorists.

An unknown outfit, Deccan Mujahideen, has sent an email to news organizations claiming that it carried out the Mumbai attacks.

The Army and Navy in Mumbai were put on alert. 65 Army commandos and 200 NSG commandos were being rushed to Mumbai, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said.

The Navy commandos too have been asked to assist the police. Special secretary M L Kumawat is in constant touch with the state police.

Some media reports attributed the attack to Lashkar-e-Taiba. There were also unconfirmed reports that some of the terrorists came in by sea. A boat laden with explosives was recovered later at night off the Gateway of India.

Well after midnight, sources said two of the terrorists were shot and wounded at Girgaum in south Mumbai. The two were driving in a commandeered silver-coloured Skoda car. Earlier, these men had sprayed bullets from a police Bolero, outside the Metro Adlabs multiplex.



The attacks occurred at the busiest places. Besides hotels and hospitals, terrorists struck at railway stations, Crawford Market, Wadi Bunder and on the Western Express Highway near the airport. Several of these places are within a one-km radius of the commissioner of police's office.

"This is definitely a terrorist strike. Seven places have been attacked with automatic weapons and grenades. Terrorists are still holed up in three locations Taj and Oberoi hotels and GT Hospital. Encounters are on at all three places," said Maharashtra DGP A N Roy.

St George's Hospital and G T Hospital were said to have received 75 bodies and more than 250 injured people, additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev said. Bombay Hospital got two bodies and 30 injured people were admitted there; Cooper Hospital, Vile Parle, got three dismembered bodies.

Three of the deaths occurred inside the Taj and one G T Hospital attendant died in a shootout inside the hospital. There were reports of people cowering under tables and chairs at both the Taj as well as G T Hospital.

Metro Junction resident Manoj Goel said: "My brother, Manish, died in the firing at Colaba's Hamaal Galli." Cops fired back at the men -- probably from one of the Lashkar groups, dressed in black and with backpacks and SRPF, Crime Branch, ATS and teams of military commandos were summoned to the spot. Train services at CST were suspended and all roads leading to and from south Mumbai were blockaded.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh cut short his Kerala visit and was returning to Mumbai. He described the situation in Mumbai as "very serious".



Deshmukh promised "stringent action" against the assailants but the mood across Mumbai was not so optimistic.

There were reports of firing around several landmark buildings in the Colaba-Nariman Point area, including the Taj hotel, Oberoi and other tourist attractions and pubs like Leopold's. The top floor of Oberoi was said to be on fire amid reports of blasts in the area and blood-smeared bodies were being brought out of the Taj lobby.

Terrorists were said to be holed up at the Taj as well as G T Hospital and cops scampered to cordon off these places. A white flag was seen fluttering from an Oberoi Hotel window around 11.20 pm, where a blast was said to have occurred.

The blast on the Western Express Highway -- near Centaur Hotel outside the airport -- occurred in a taxi, deputy commissioner of police Nissar Tamboli said.

The firing and bombing started close to the Gateway of India. The gunbattle then moved on towards CST and raged on for over an hour from 10 pm, sending commuters running out of the station.

The assailants also fired into the crowd at CST and people on the trains and then ran out of the station themselves and into neighbouring buildings, including Cama Hospital, after being challenged by cops.

SRPF personnel then entered the iconic BMC building -- just opposite CST -- to take aim at the assailants, BMC commissioner Jairaj Phatak said. "We fear some of the assailants are still inside the station and we want to catch them if they come out,'' a police official said.

Vikhroli police station senior inspector Habib Ansari was on his way to work from his Colaba home when he saw two armed men, with sophisticated weaponry, trying to run into bylanes near the Gateway of India."I rushed back to Colaba and all policemen, including GRP and RPF personnel, were called up," he added. (source)

ISLAMOFILE 112708: Iran Announces That It Has Over 5000 Centrifuges

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran announced Wednesday it now has 5,000 centrifuges operating and enriching uranium, the country's latest defiance of U.N. demands to halt is controversial nuclear program.

Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said Iran will continue to install more centrifuges and enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel for future Iranian nuclear power plants. In August, Iran said it had 4,000 centrifuges running at its plant in the central city of Natanz.

Uranium enriched to a low level is used to produce nuclear fuel, but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in nuclear weapons.

"At this point, more than 5,000 centrifuges are operating in Natanz and enriching uranium," said Aghazadeh, who is head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. He spoke to reporters during an exhibition of Iranian nuclear achievements at Tehran University.

Flaunting Iran's defiance of international demands, Aghazadeh said the Islamic Republic will never suspend enrichment.

"Suspension has not been defined in our lexicon," he said.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a report last month that Iran was installing, or preparing to install, thousands more of the machines that spin uranium gas to enrich it—with the target of 9,000 centrifuges by next year.

IAEA officials could not be immediately reached for a comment Wednesday, but Iran has previously said it plans to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment that will ultimately involve 54,000 centrifuges.

Former U.N. nuclear inspector David Albright said the additional centrifuges announced Wednesday were expected.

"Expect another 1,000 to start enriching soon," said Albright, president for the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security. "As Iran runs centrifuges more and more, it's just going to get better at it."

Earlier this month, the IAEA estimated Iran had around about 1,400 pounds of low-enriched uranium. U.N. officials have said Tehran would have to produce a little more than twice that to begin enriching it to the level needed to produce a nuclear weapon.

The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons, and the U.N. Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran for its refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment program.

But Tehran denies it is trying to build bombs and insists it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce reactor fuel.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said had not seen the report on the new centrifuges but stressed that Iran was continuing to pursue enrichment and reprocessing capability.

"They are continuing to try to perfect the technologies that could lead to a nuclear weapons technology. And that is what the international coalition that we have put together ... is trying to stop," she told reporters.

At the exhibition in Tehran, Iran for the first time put on public display one of its P-1 centrifuges, and officials at the exhibition explained the machine to visitors. During the enrichment process, uranium gas is spun in a series of centrifuges known as "cascades" to purify it.

Aghazadeh also said Iran had made "good progress" in constructing a 40-megawatt heavy-water reactor near Arak in central Iran.

"The heavy water plant is experiencing a production beyond its capacity," he said without elaborating.

Western countries have repeatedly called on Iran to stop construction of the reactor, fearing it could be used as a second track toward building a warhead.

When it is finished, the Arak reactor could produce enough plutonium for a nuclear weapon each year, experts have said.

Aghazadeh also claimed Iran has conducted research on nuclear fusion, but he didn't provide more details on the research other than to say it started "long ago."

Nuclear fusion, the process behind the hydrogen bomb, is more powerful than fission and scientists have long tried to harness it as an energy source.

Also Wednesday, Iranian state television reported that the country successfully launched a second rocket into space, following up on the first such launch in February.

The rocket, entitled "Kavoshgar 2," or Explorer 2, made it to the lower reaches of space and returned to earth 40 minutes later on a parachute. It wasn't clear when the launch took place, and no other details were available.

Iran has long held the goal of developing a space program, generating unease among world leaders already concerned about its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. (source)

ISLAMOFILE 112708: Mumbai Terrorist Attack Targets American And British Travellers

Gunmen have carried out a series of co-ordinated attacks across the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), killing 101 people and injuring 287 more.

At least seven high-profile locations were hit in India's financial capital, including two luxury hotels where dozens of hostages are being held.

The buildings are now ringed by troops. Gunmen are also said to be holding people captive in an office block.

Police say four suspected terrorists have been killed and nine arrested.


As day broke in Mumbai, the situation on the ground was still confused with reports of gunfire and explosions at between seven and 16 locations.

The city's main commuter train station, a hospital, a restaurant and two hotels - locations used by foreigners as well as local businessmen and leaders - were among those places caught up in the violence.

Commandos have surrounded the two hotels, the Taj Mahal Palace and the Oberoi Trident, where it is believed that the armed men are holding dozens of hostages.

In other developments:

• Fire crews evacuate people from the upper floors of the Taj Mahal Palace, where police say a grenade attack caused a blaze


• The head of Mumbai's anti-terrorism unit and two other senior officers are among those killed, officials say

• The White House holds a meeting of top intelligence and counter-terrorism officials, and pledges to help the Indian government

• Trading on India's Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange markets will remain closed on Thursday, officials say.


"The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed," said AN Roy, police commissioner of Maharashtra state.

Local TV images showed blood-splattered streets, and bodies being taken into ambulances.

One eyewitness told the BBC he had seen a gunman opening fire in the Taj Mahal's lobby.

"We all moved through the lobby in the opposite direction and another gunman then appeared towards where we were moving and he started firing immediately in our direction."

One British tourist said she spent six hours barricaded in the Oberoi hotel.

"There were about 20 or 30 people in each room. The doors were locked very quickly, the lights turned off, and everybody just lay very still on the floor," she said.

A BBC correspondent outside the landmark Taj Mahal Palace said there were gunshots between police and the armed men, and that 11 officers were killed in the skirmishes.

Eyewitness reports suggest the attackers singled out British and American passport holders.

If the reports are true, our security correspondent Frank Gardner says it implies an Islamist motive - attacks inspired or co-ordinated by al-Qaeda.

A claim of responsibility has been made by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen.

Our correspondent says it could be a hoax or assumed name for another group.

The motive is far from clear - but the attacks come amid elections in several Indian states, including in disputed Kashmir.

On Thursday, reports said five gunmen had taken hostages in an office block in the financial district of Mumbai.


There has been a wave of bombings in Indian cities in recent months which has left scores of people dead.

Most of the attacks have been blamed on Muslim militants, although police have also arrested suspected Hindu extremists.

Mumbai itself has also been attacked in the past: in July 2006 a series of bomb attacks on busy commuter trains killed almost 190 people and injured more than 700.


Police accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of planning those attacks, which they said were carried out by an Islamist militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Pakistan rejected the allegation, saying there was no evidence that its intelligence staff were involved.

But the latest shootings come at a time when ties between India and Pakistan have improved.

Just days ago Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari told a summit in Delhi that Pakistan would not be first to carry out a missile strike on India.

The two countries have a joint anti-terror mechanism whereby they are supposed to share information on terrorist attacks. (source)

ISLAMOFILE 112708: al Qaeda Develops Attack Plans For American Holiday

NEW YORK (AP) - Police bolstered security in subways and trains Wednesday after the government warned that al-Qaida suicide bombers were contemplating an attack on New York's mass-transit systems during the holiday season. An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press says the FBI has received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system.

The internal bulletin says al-Qaida terrorists "in late September may have discussed targeting transit systems in and around New York City. These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway/passenger rail systems," according to the document.

"We have no specific details to confirm that this plot has developed beyond aspirational planning, but we are issuing this warning out of concern that such an attack could possibly be conducted during the forthcoming holiday season," according to the warning dated Tuesday.

A person briefed on the matter, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the intelligence-gathering work, said the threat may also be directed at the passenger rail lines running through New York, such as Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road, which are particularly busy with Thanksgiving holiday travelers.

A federal law enforcement official said there's no indication that anyone involved in the planning is in the United States. That official also spoke on condition of anonymity because it involved intelligence-gathering.

While law enforcement stepped up patrols around subways and trains, many commuters around the city were unfazed by the news and had not even heard of the threat.

"If you get scared that means they win," commuter Omid Sima said on the platform of the subway below Rockefeller Center. "There's always been terror warnings. I can't change my life because of that."

The Big Apple's tightly packed passenger trains and subway cars have long been a source of concern for police officers - and a tempting target for would-be terrorists - but there is often disagreement as to how seriously authorities should take specific intelligence reports.

The city has more than 450 subway stations that handle millions of commuters every day.

A Pakistani immigrant was arrested and convicted for a scheme to blow up the subway station at Herald Square in 2004. There was also a planned cyanide attack on the subways by al-Qaida operatives that authorities say was called off in 2002; another aborted al-Qaida plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge in 2003; and a plot to bomb underwater train tunnels to flood lower Manhattan, which was broken up in 2006 by several arrests overseas.

Three years ago, authorities weighed reports that bombers might try to use baby strollers to bring explosives into city trains. Many security officials later concluded that was a false alarm.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said they have received an unsubstantiated report and as a result have "deployed additional resources in the mass transit system."

While federal agencies regularly issue all sorts of advisory warnings, the language of this one is particularly blunt.

Intelligence and homeland security officials are working with local authorities to try to corroborate the information "and will continue to investigate every possible lead," the memo says.

Rep. Peter King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said authorities "have very real specifics as to who it is and where the conversation took place and who conducted it."

"It certainly involves suicide bombing attacks on the mass transit system in and around New York and it's plausible, but there's no evidence yet that it's in the process of being carried out," King said.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the warning was issued "out of an abundance of caution going into this holiday season."

No changes are being made to the nation's threat level, or for transit systems at this time, he said.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko confirmed only that his agency and the Homeland Security Department issued a bulletin Tuesday night to state and local authorities, and the information is being reviewed.