LeT’s marine wing planning repeat of 26/11, warns US think tank
Source: ET
8 Jul 2009, 0433 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Confirming a fresh terror threat from marine wing of the Lashkar-e-Taiba to vital installations along the coast in Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Goa, a US-based think tank has drawn attention to the Pakistan-based outfit’s widespread use of Gulf countries as a link to fund and plot terror attacks against India.
According to a report in the Terrorism Monitor, a periodical published by the Virginia-based Jamestown Foundation, intelligence authorities have revealed that LeT’s marine wing is planning a repeat of 26/11, and is on the lookout for an incursion into India via the western seacoast.
The report, which claims that the Indian intelligence agencies have confirmed the Gulf link to terror in India, mentions 26/11 and last year’s blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Surat as LeT’s operations that were financed by its Gulf cells and masterminded by its Gulf-based operatives and carried out in collusion with IM and SIMI.
“The recent spurt in terror activities by LeT in India has a direct connection to contributions from the Gulf-based cells that have planned and financed most of the group’s operations. LeT’s Gulf-based networks are becoming the lifeline for LeT/JuD operations in Pakistan and India,” the Terrorism Monitor report said, adding the threat has now led India to seek a comprehensive anti-terrorism treaty with the Gulf nations.
According to the report, the recent arrest of Muhammad Omar Madni, a close aide of Lashkar chief Hafeez Muhammad Saeed, reveals the impending threat to India through the sea route. Madni, who was heading LeT’s Nepal operations, was on a mission to recruit youths and send them to Pakistan for terror training. He travelled to Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and the Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia, seeking fund and logistical support.
Madni’s interrogation revealed that LeT had moved beyond the usual routes of intrusion through J&K and managed to build alternate routes through the porous borders of Nepal and Bangladesh while establishing bases in the Gulf countries.
According to the think-tank’s report, past and ongoing terror investigations suggest that the Gulf countries have been the major hubs for LeT terrorists, and many terrorist plots against India are now hatched outside Pakistan’s territory. The 26/11 probe by the Mumbai police, the report said, revealed that the Mumbai attacks were financed by LeT’s Gulf cells.
It was also found by the probe agencies that it were the Gulf-based operatives that had masterminded and executed a series of blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Surat in 2008. Investigations, according to the think-tank, uncovered ties to many Gulf hotspots, especially the financial networks in Muscat (Oman).
The Terrorism Monitor report claimed that the Gulf’s increasing ties to terrorism resurfaced when investigations into the November 2008 Mumbai carnage tracked a similar pattern involving Gulf-based financiers and Lashkar coordinators. “The role of Aziz Hooti as one of the financiers in this connection is currently under probe. Hooti, the Oman-based businessman and key Lashkar operative there, was in touch with Lashkar terrorist Fahim Ansari just before late November’s carnage in Mumbai,” it pointed out.
8 Jul 2009, 0433 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Confirming a fresh terror threat from marine wing of the Lashkar-e-Taiba to vital installations along the coast in Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Goa, a US-based think tank has drawn attention to the Pakistan-based outfit’s widespread use of Gulf countries as a link to fund and plot terror attacks against India.
According to a report in the Terrorism Monitor, a periodical published by the Virginia-based Jamestown Foundation, intelligence authorities have revealed that LeT’s marine wing is planning a repeat of 26/11, and is on the lookout for an incursion into India via the western seacoast.
The report, which claims that the Indian intelligence agencies have confirmed the Gulf link to terror in India, mentions 26/11 and last year’s blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Surat as LeT’s operations that were financed by its Gulf cells and masterminded by its Gulf-based operatives and carried out in collusion with IM and SIMI.
“The recent spurt in terror activities by LeT in India has a direct connection to contributions from the Gulf-based cells that have planned and financed most of the group’s operations. LeT’s Gulf-based networks are becoming the lifeline for LeT/JuD operations in Pakistan and India,” the Terrorism Monitor report said, adding the threat has now led India to seek a comprehensive anti-terrorism treaty with the Gulf nations.
According to the report, the recent arrest of Muhammad Omar Madni, a close aide of Lashkar chief Hafeez Muhammad Saeed, reveals the impending threat to India through the sea route. Madni, who was heading LeT’s Nepal operations, was on a mission to recruit youths and send them to Pakistan for terror training. He travelled to Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and the Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia, seeking fund and logistical support.
Madni’s interrogation revealed that LeT had moved beyond the usual routes of intrusion through J&K and managed to build alternate routes through the porous borders of Nepal and Bangladesh while establishing bases in the Gulf countries.
According to the think-tank’s report, past and ongoing terror investigations suggest that the Gulf countries have been the major hubs for LeT terrorists, and many terrorist plots against India are now hatched outside Pakistan’s territory. The 26/11 probe by the Mumbai police, the report said, revealed that the Mumbai attacks were financed by LeT’s Gulf cells.
It was also found by the probe agencies that it were the Gulf-based operatives that had masterminded and executed a series of blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Surat in 2008. Investigations, according to the think-tank, uncovered ties to many Gulf hotspots, especially the financial networks in Muscat (Oman).
The Terrorism Monitor report claimed that the Gulf’s increasing ties to terrorism resurfaced when investigations into the November 2008 Mumbai carnage tracked a similar pattern involving Gulf-based financiers and Lashkar coordinators. “The role of Aziz Hooti as one of the financiers in this connection is currently under probe. Hooti, the Oman-based businessman and key Lashkar operative there, was in touch with Lashkar terrorist Fahim Ansari just before late November’s carnage in Mumbai,” it pointed out.
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