Two US spies killed in Mumbai attack, Indian government sources claim
December 13, 2008 Leave a comment
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]
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Indian Home Minister points to sophistication of Mumbai attacks
January 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment
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]
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