FBI team detained at Mumbai airport

Sunday, November 30, 2008 7:45 PM (Mumbai): The seven-member team of the FBI, which arrived on Sunday in a special aircraft in Mumbai in the backdrop of recent terror strikes, was detained due to miscommunication between Delhi and Mumbai airport officials.

According to official sources, the US investigation agency team had come with special forensic equipment that is prohibited.

However, senior officers later rushed to the spot and resolved the matter.

Five of the FBI officers have already come out of the Mumbai airport while the remaining two will be procuring their equipment back before coming out.

India named among 20 most dangerous places to visit

LONDON: The three-day long terror strike in its financial capital Mumbai has pushed India to be among the 20 most dangerous places to visit on Earth, a British report has said.

Listing India among the world's 20 most dangerous places after the Mumbai terror strike that claimed close to 200 lives, UK daily The Telegraph said in an online report that the British government was currently advising against all, but essential, travel to Mumbai.

India has been listed along side places like Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mexico, Thailand and South Africa in this list.

Chechnya, Jamaica, Sudan, Colombia, Haiti, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Burundi, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Lebanon have also been named among the 20 "most dangerous places to visit on Earth."

Writing on India, the report said, "Although the Foreign Office is currently advising against all but essential travel to Mumbai, most of the rest of the country is considered safe.

Exceptions include the rural areas of Jammu, Kashmir (other than Ladakh) and the border area with Pakistan. There remains a high threat from terrorism throughout India."

Meanwhile, pointing out that there is a high threat of terrorism and sectarian violence throughout Pakistan, The Telegraph said, "... there are regular suicide bombings and attacks on positions of authority and locations frequented by foreign nationals in September this year a major explosion destroyed the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, killing more than 50 people and injuring more than 250."

Noting that security situation in Iraq remains "highly volatile," the daily said that there is a continuing high threat of terrorism throughout the country, including the threat of kidnapping of foreign nationals.

The Telegraph has said that Afghanistan has a high threat of terrorism, with a strong risk of kidnap, violent crime and suicide attacks across the country.

"The Foreign Office website strongly advises against all but essential travel to Kabul, adding that "no part of Afghanistan should be considered immune from violence and the potential exists throughout the country for hostile acts," it added.

On Sudan, the daily pointed out that the threat from indiscriminate terrorism is high in the country and that humanitarian situation "remains grim - more than two million people have been displaced by fighting in Darfur."

"Banditry is widespread in Darfur, especially in rural areas at night.

The Foreign Office advises against all travel to a number of areas, including the Eritrean border," The Telegraph said.

Mumbai begins to heal after terrorist rampage

Mumbai, November 30, 2008: This crowded, bustling financial capital, wracked by three days bloodshed, slowly began puling itself back together Sunday as a once-besieged restaurant reopened its doors and Indians mourned their dead.

A day after the siege ended, corpses were still being brought out of the ritzy Taj Mahal hotel where three suspected Muslim militants made a last stand before Indian commandos killed them in a blaze of gunfire and explosions.

Sunday morning found the landmark waterfront hotel, popular among foreign tourists and Indian society, surrounded by metal barricades, its shattered windows boarded over. At the famous Gateway of India basalt arch nearby, a shrine of candles, flowers and messages commemorated victims.

"We have been to two funerals already," said Mumbai resident Karin Dutta as she lay small bouquet of white flowers for several friends killed in the hotel. "We're going to another one now." At least 174 people were massacred in the rampage carried out by gunmen at 10 sites across Mumbai starting Wednesday night. One site, the Cafe Leopold, a famous tourist restaurant and scene of one of the first attacks, opened for the first time since the attacks on Sunday afternoon.

The death toll was revised down Sunday from 195 after authorities said some bodies were counted twice, but they said it could rise again as areas of the Taj Mahal were still being searched. Among the dead were 18 foreigners, including six Americans. Nine attackers were killed.

The dead also included Germans, Canadians, Israelis and nationals from Britain, Italy, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia and Singapore.

"Suddenly no one feels safe or secure," said Joe Sequeira, the manager of a popular restaurant near the Oberoi hotel, another site targeted in the attacks. "It will take time. People are scared but they will realize it's no use being scared and sitting at home." A previously unknown Muslim group called Deccan Mujahideen _ a name suggesting origins inside India _ has claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed more than 170 people. But Indian officials said the sole surviving gunman, now in custody, was from Pakistan and voiced suspicions of their neighbor. Pakistan denied it was involved and demanded evidence. The assaults have raised fears among U.S. officials about a possible surge in violence between Pakistan and India _ the nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars against each other, two over the disputed region of Kashmir.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called a rare meeting of leaders from the country's main political parties to discuss the situation Sunday.

Each new detail about the attackers raised more questions. Who trained the militants, who were so well prepared they carried bags of almonds to keep their energy up? What role, if any, did archrival Pakistan play in the attack? And how did so few assailants, who looked like college students, wreak so much damage? As officials pointed the finger at neighboring Pakistan, some Indians looked inward and expressed anger at their own government. "People are worried, but the key difference is anger," said Rajesh Jain, chief executive officer at a brokerage firm, Pranav Securities. "People are worked up about the ineffectiveness of the administration. Does the government have the will, the ability to tackle the dangers we face?"

The gunmen were as brazen as they were well trained, using sophisticated weapons as well as GPS technology and mobile and satellite phones to communicate, officials said. The group made repeated contact with an unidentified foreign country. The investigation suggested the attackers planned to massacre 5,000 people, said R.R. Patil, deputy to the chief of Maharashtra state, without giving further details.

"Whenever they were under a little bit of pressure they would hurl a grenade. They freely used grenades," said J.K. Dutt, director general of India's elite commando unit.

Suspicions in Indian media quickly settled on the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, long seen as a creation of the Pakistani intelligence service to help wage its clandestine war against India in disputed Kashmir.

A U.S. counterterrorism official 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.

President George W. Bush pledged full U.S. support for the investigation, saying the killers "will not have the final word." FBI agents were sent to India to help with the probe. "As the people of the world's largest democracy recover from these attacks, they can count on the people of world's oldest democracy to stand by their side," Bush added in a brief address from the White House.

The Indian navy said it was investigating whether a trawler found drifting off the coast of Mumbai, with a bound corpse on board, was used in the attack.

It was the country's deadliest terrorist act since 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai killed 257 people.

PM emphasises on collective approach to deal with terror

Sunday 30 November, 2008: In the wake of deadly terror strikes in Mumbai, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the political class of the country should give a message of collective approach in dealing with the situation of a terrorist attack of this magnitude.

Initiating discussion at the all-party meeting convened to discuss the situation arising out of the Mumbai attacks, Singh expressed confidence that the meeting "will be able to give our collective assurance to the nation that across the political spectrum we stand together at this hour."

The meeting was attended by leaders of all parties.

Senior BJP leader L K Advani and party president Rajnath Singh did not attend the crucial meeting, with their party saying they were away campaigning in Rajasthan and could not reach New Delhi in time.

Singh called the meeting to discuss common approach to deal with the problem of terror, which may include tightening the law.

The Prime Minister has already emphasised the immediate need to set up a Federal Investigation Agency to go after terrorist crimes like the one in Mumbai and ensure that the guilty are brought to book.

The Prime Minister had asserted that "the strongest possible measures" would be taken in the fight against terror including the use of the National Security Act (NSA).

While the NSA would be invoked to deal with situations of this kind, the existing laws would be tightened to ensure that there were no loopholes available to terrorists to escape the clutches of the law, he had said.

The meeting has come at a time when the Opposition was targeting the Congress-led coalition at the Centre for not being serious about tackling terror.