Two US spies killed in Mumbai attack, Indian government sources claim

Yesterday, intelNews discussed the apparent zeal with which the US State Department is monitoring the Indian and Pakistani responses to the recent militant attack on Mumbai. Visiting New Delhi on Friday, US Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, made sure to remind the Indian government that “there were United States casualties as well. So we are also victims of these attacks”. Today The Express adds another possible explanation for the State Department’s “unprecedented” interest in the attacks. The Indian newspaper cites “reliable sources in [the Indian] government” in asserting that “two senior espionage officials from the US were among the eight Americans killed in the […] attacks”. The newspaper alleges that the news of the two officials’ deaths, who were reportedly shot at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel on the night of November 27, “rankled the White House”. It is not clear from the report whether the two agents were staying at the hotel, were attending a meeting there, or rushed there from elsewhere in Mumbai in response to the attacks. [JF]