Mumbai attack: Warnings ignored

2008-12-01 13:03

New Delhi - Public outrage in India over the devastating Mumbai attacks was fuelled on Monday by fresh reports that clear warnings of a coming assault were ignored.

The Hindustan Times said intelligence agencies had precise information at least 10 months ago that the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was planning an attack on Mumbai's five-star hotels.

The information was provided by a Lashkar militant arrested in northern India in February, the Times said, citing one of his interrogators.

The interrogator said the captured operative had stayed at a guesthouse in Mumbai at the end of last year and "surveyed each floor" of the luxury hotels targeted in last week's attacks, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi/Trident.

He had also disclosed that any attack would probably come from the sea.

The Islamist gunmen who launched their assault on Wednesday evening slipped into Mumbai on two dinghies. As well as the two hotels, their targets included Mumbai's main train station, a hospital and a Jewish cultural centre.

By the time Indian commandos had shot the last remaining militants dead 60 hours later, 170 people had been killed. Initial suspicions have focused on the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

With the Indian media baying for accountability, interior minister Shivraj Patil resigned on Sunday after "owning moral responsibility" for the attacks, and several other senior politicians have offered to step down.

According to the Times of India, the Intelligence Bureau told India's National Security Council in September that the Taj hotel could be a target and another advisory on November 12 said that an attack would come from the sea.

Citing sources in RAW, India's military intelligence wing, the Times said telephone intercepts in which the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba could be heard saying the "cargo is on its way" had been passed on to the navy and coast guard on November 18.

- AFP