US intelligence chief implicates Lashkar-e-Taiba in Mumbai attacks
WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell late Tuesday implicated Lashkar-e-Taiba in the deadly attacks in Mumbai that killed at least 188 people.
Speaking at Harvard University, the top US intelligence official left little doubt that he believed the group was responsible for the bloody attacks.
"The same group that we believe is responsible for Mumbai had a similar attack in 2006 on a train and killed a similar number of people," said McConnell. "Go back to 2001 and it was an attack on the parliament," he added.
The July 2006 bombings of Mumbai commuter trains killed at least 186 people and injured some 700 others. Indian police at the time blamed Pakistan's intelligence service and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which fought Indian rule in divided Kashmir, for the attacks.
Indian officials also blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba for the deadly assault on the Indian parliament in 2001. That attack killed 12 people and pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the brink of war.
The radical Islamic group, whose name means "Army of the Pious," has past links to both Pakistani intelligence and Al-Qaeda.
McConnell, who did not mention Lashkar-e-Taiba by name, said he did not see the Mumbai attack as a new form of terrorism.
"If you examine the groups we think are responsible, the philosophical underpinnings are very similar to what Al-Qaeda puts out as their view of how the world should be. It is a continuation," he said.
About 10 gunmen landed in rubber dinghies in Mumbai Wednesday and wreaked havoc with automatic weapons and hand grenades, in a 60-hour assault that killed at least 188 people and injured more than 300. The dead included 22 foreign nationals.
Pakistan outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba after the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, though Indian officials allege the ban has not been enforced.
In his speech, McConnell emphasized the difficulty in fighting shadowy Islamist groups such as Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
"Democratic systems that promote free speech and free movement and open discussion are incredibly vulnerable to someone who is willing to die in the context of a suicide bomber or a suicide attack," McConnell said.
Washington has been dropping hints for days that the group was behind the attacks: a US counter-terrorism official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP on Saturday that Lashkar-e-Taiba may have been responsible for the attacks.
A spokesman for the Pakistan-based group denied any involvement in the Mumbai atrocities.
US officials had warned India in October that hotels and business centers in Mumbai might be targeted by attackers coming from the sea, according to US news media reports.
Indian intelligence officials intercepted a phone call on November 18 to an address in Pakistan used by the head of Lashkar-e-Taiba, also revealing a possible attack from the sea, ABC News reported.
Indian police believe that top Lashkar-e-Taiba member Yusuf Muzammil masterminded the Mumbai attacks, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
Muzammil was identified as the brains behind the attacks by Ajmal Kasab, the only gunman who was captured alive, an unidentified senior police official told the US business daily.
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), a militant Islamic fundamentalist group based in Pakistan, has been implicated in last week's Mumbai attacks in India.

Rakesh Maria, a commissioner with the Mumbai Police, said that the sole surviving attacker, whom he identified as Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, has admitted spending three months in a Lashkar-e-Toiba camp preparing the attacks. Kasab, who is reported to be 21 years old, told police that he spent a total of eighteen months training at various LeT camps.
Some of the aftermath of the attacks
Meanwhile, John Michael McConnell, the United States Director of National Intelligence, indirectly implicated LeT. In a speech at Harvard University, he said that the same group responsible for the 2006 Mumbai train bombings was behind last week's attacks. LeT has also been blamed for the attack on the Parliament of India in late 2001

"The same group that we believe is responsible for Mumbai had a similar attack in 2006 on a train and killed a similar number of people," said McConnell without naming LeT. "If you examine the groups we think are responsible, the philosophical underpinnings are very similar to what Al-Qaeda puts out as their view of how the world should be. It is a continuation."

Commissioner Maria said that the training took place in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, near the disputed Kashmir region. Kasab received very specific instructions, according to Maria.
Sites of the attacks in Mumbai
"He was told things like, 'You'll come in through this door, then go over here, then go out through that door,'" Maria told CNN's Nic Robertson. "Very, very detailed, explicit instructions. The gunmen were hand-picked, but there were no examinations per se."

India has also said that Kasab named known LeT leader, Yusuf Muzammil, as the mastermind behind the attacks.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the Indian capital of New Delhi on Wednesday.

"Pakistan needs to act with resolve and urgency and cooperate fully and transparently," said Rice. "That message has been delivered and will be delivered to Pakistan."

Analysts cited by Reuters are saying that India will not resort to a military response over the Mumbai attacks.

"The military option has never been an option, because the military can't guarantee you an outcome," said Manoj Joshi, an editor at the ''Mail Today''. "We have been there, done it, and it doesn't work." In 2002, India threatened military action after the parliament attack.

"If you want a solution to Afghanistan, you have to lean on Pakistan to shut down all jihadist operations," said Siddharth Varadarajan, an editor at ''The Hindu''. "You have to tackle the root cause, which is the attitude of the Pakistani military. That is the silver bullet."