Indian Home Minister points to sophistication of Mumbai attacks

Prior to an official visit to the US, later this week, India’s Home Minister said yesterday that the sophisticated planning and professional execution of the 2008 Mumbai attacks points to involvement of “state actors” in the operation. Speaking to India’s NDTV news network, Palaniappan Chidambaram, who is the Indian government’s  Union Minister of Home Affairs, said he presumes those behind the attack “are state actors or state-assisted actors unless the contrary is proved”. The Home Minister justified his rationale based on the meticulous execution of the coordinated militant assault of last November, which killed nearly 180 people in India’s largest city. “Somebody who is familiar with intelligence and who is familiar with commando operations has directed this operation”, said Chidambaram. “It was too enormous a crime and required very elaborate planning, communication networks, financial backing. It was a very, very sophisticated operation”. The Home Minister will be delivering a “detailed dossier” to US Homeland Security officials later this week, which reportedly includes “electronic evidence […] and intercepts” as well as reports from interrogations. [IA]