Low IQ: Why India Fails on Terrorism

An advance team of security personnel securing the Oberoi in Mumbai for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit at a function on November 29 had no idea of persistent terror alerts for several sea-facing hotels in that city.

These alerts had been sounded by the country’s external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) not once but four times, as reported exclusively by Hindustan Times on Tuesday. Every public place that is to host the prime minister for any length of time is checked and sanitized by the SPG one or two days in advance.

By Varghese K George
From the Hindustan Times

HT has learnt that a team of Special Protection Group (SPG), the outfit that protects past and present PMs and their families, left the Oberoi barely minutes before terrorists struck on November 26.

This paper reported on Tuesday that R&AW had four intercepts starting September 18 about an operation being planned and launched by the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyeba against Mumbai hotels using the sea route. Though the Oberoi was not among those named in the intercepts — the alerts were against sea-facing hotels. Those named were the Taj Mahal, the Marriott, the Taj Land’s end and the Sea Rock.

The Oberoi also faces the sea. But the SPG had no clue to these alerts.
 
Every public place that is to host the prime minister for any length of time is checked and sanitized by the SPG one or two days in advance. And every threat perception is considered before the visit is allowed.

Each of these alerts was sent to a centralised intelligence group set up by the National Security Adviser MK Narayanan. Sources in the intelligence agency told HT they don’t know what happened to these alerts. They didn’t at least go to the SPG as it was not aware of these alerts. Officials in the group refused to discuss this issue when contacted for comments.

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India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the all-party meeting in New Delhi November 30, 2008. The Mumbai attackers were all from Pakistan, India’s deputy interior minister said on Monday, stopping short of blaming the government in Islamabad for last week’s carnage which left more than 170 dead. Singh’s government has taken a lot of criticism for their response to terror, both from the Indian media and the political opposition.(AFP/Raveendran)

India Had Intelligence in Mid September of Hotel Attack, Sea Entry of Terrorists

As the investigation into the intelligence failures that preceded the Mumbai attacks proceeds, there is evidence that even quite specific information that was gathered was either not properly analysed or not acted on.
 
The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency, had provided several intercepts from signals intelligence over the last three months. These suggested that a terror  strike on a Mumbai hotel was imminent. But they were largely ignored.

By Vir Sanghvi
Hindustan Times

On September 18, R&AW computers intercepted a satellite phone conversation between a known Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) asset and an unknown person. The LeT asset said that an operation to target a hotel at the Gateway of India in Mumbai was being planned and that the sea route would be used.

On September 24, R&AW’s computer recorded another satellite phone conversation. This time, the LeT asset identified the hotels that were being considered for the attack by name. They were the Taj, the Marriott, the Land’s End and the Sea Rock. A possible attack on the Juhu airfield (used by a flying club) was also discussed.

All these hotels have one thing in common: they are easily accessible from the sea. The Taj is on the Apollo Bunder waterfront,  the Marriott is on Juhu sea face and the Land’s End and the Sea Rock are both on the sea-facing tip of Bandra. This should have been enough to let police know that: 1) Hotels were the target. 2) The attackers would use the sea route.

On November 19, R&AW listeners picked up another unexplained satellite phone conversation. A voice said, “We will reach Bombay between nine and eleven.” R&AW trackers identified the exact coordinates of the call and discovered that it came from the sea near Mumbai, 40 km west of Jhol.
 
This was clear evidence — at the very least — of an attempt being made to enter Mumbai illegally by people armed with advanced satellite phones.

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U.S. Warned India Twice About Terror From The Sea

United States intelligence agencies had warned India “twice” about a potential maritime attack on Mumbai at least a month before audacious terror strikes that has left about 200 people dead and scores injured, media reports said.

“The United States warned the Indian government about a potential maritime attack against Mumbai at least a month before last week’s massacre in the country’s financial capital,” the CNN quoted a US counter-terrorism official as saying.

The American network quoted the official as saying that the warning was issued not once but “twice”.

A second government source told ABCnews.Com that specific locations, including the Taj Hotel, were listed in the US warning.

“US intelligence indicated that a group might enter the country by water and launch an attack on Mumbai, said the official, who refused to be identified due to the ongoing investigation into the attacks and the sensitivity of the information,” the CNN added.

“Indian security forces have confirmed to CNN that not only did US officials warn them of a water-borne attack in Mumbai — they were told twice. The area entered a higher state of alert for a week, including tightened security measures at hotels, but those efforts were eventually reduced, Indian officials said,” the network, which repeatedly broadcast the story last evening, maintained.

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U.S. warned India about possible Mumbai attack

The United States warned the Indian government about a potential maritime attack against Mumbai at least a month before last week’s massacre in the country’s financial capital left nearly 180 dead, a U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN.

CNN

U.S. intelligence indicated that a group might enter the country by water and launch an attack on Mumbai, said the source, who refused to be identified due to the ongoing investigation into the attacks and the sensitivity of the information.

Indian security forces have confirmed to CNN that not only did U.S. officials warn them of a water-borne attack in Mumbai — they were told twice. The area entered a higher state of alert for a week, including tightened security measures at hotels, but those efforts were eventually reduced, Indian officials said.

Local fisherman in Mumbai said they witnessed a group of gunmen dock their boat Wednesday night, before heading toward the busy causeway.

Also, sources have told CNN-IBN that officials found phones and a global navigational device on an abandoned boat floating off the coast of Mumbai. The boat had been hijacked, intelligence officials told CNN-IBN.

Four crew members who had been on board were missing. The captain was found dead, lying face down with his hands bound behind his back.

India has made clear that it believes last week’s coordinated attacks in Mumbai originated in Pakistan, but the Indian government is under pressure to explain the lapse of security that allowed the siege to occur.

Indian police say 179 people were killed in the attacks on 10 targets i4n Mumbai. Most of the deaths occurred at the city’s top two hotels, the Oberoi and the Taj Mahal.

Pakistani authorities say Islamabad has not received any evidence that militants from within its borders carried out the attacks, but have vowed to fully cooperate in the investigation. Suspicion has fallen on Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based terror group allied with al Qaeda, even though it has denied responsibility.

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ndia.attacks2/index.html?section=cnn_latest

 
People in front of the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai on November 30, 2008. Foreign travellers and business people say they will not be put off coming to India’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan city by murderous militant attacks that brought Mumbai to a standstill last week.(AFP/Indranil Mukherjee)

Mumbai Terror Attack: Why Wasn’t Intelligence Better?

It is the big question: Could more have been done to prevent the Mumbai massacre?

While terrorism experts say Indian special forces performed with remarkable bravery and professionalism in their battle with the terrorists, they believe the attacks should — and could — have been thwarted by better intelligence.

Professor Paul Wilkinson lectures in international relations at the University of St. Andrews and is joint editor of the academic journal Terrorism and Political Violence.

SKY News (UK)

He told Sky News: “We have to accept there was an intelligence failure. They should have nipped this in the bud but it wasn’t on their radar. Intelligence doesn’t come out of this very well. This was a major operation with lots of people involved. It wasn’t just a cell; there were teams of gunmen — lots of well trained people. A large number of people must have been in the know about this attack.”

Former SAS trooper Robin Horsfall, who took part in the storming of the Iranian embassy in 1980, also believes the international intelligence community should have known the attacks were being planned.

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Indian soldiers take cover during a military operation at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai. Commandos Saturday killed the last remaining gunmen in Mumbai’s Taj hotel to end a devastating attack by Islamic militants on India’s financial capital that left 195 dead, including 27 foreigners.(AFP/Pedro Ugarte)

Changing The Game: Taliban Warns U.S. To Halt Anti-Terror Raids Into Pakistan

A militant Taliban group warned Thursday of reprisals in Pakistan if there was another US drone attack, as the government condemned the latest missile strike in its territory.

 
An unmanned Predator drone. A militant Taliban group warned on Thursday of reprisals in Pakistan if there was another US drone attack, as the government condemned the latest missile strike in its territory.(AFP/USAF/File)

Top Pakistani Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur warned he would mount revenge attacks if the US carried out further strikes in tribal territory after missiles fired from a drone Wednesday killed six people, including a major Al-Qaeda operative.

Bahadur’s group has been accused by the United States of launching attacks across the border in Afghanistan, but it abstains from violence in Pakistani territory under an understanding with military authorities.

“We will start revenge attacks across other districts if the US drone attacks do not stop after November 20,” Taliban spokesman Ahmadullah Ahmadi said in a statement.

Speaking in parliament, Pakistani premier Yousuf Raza Gilani denounced the latest drone attack, which occurred at Bannu district in northwest Pakistan.

“These attacks are adding to our problems. They are intolerable and we do not support them,” Gilani told the national assembly.

The foreign ministry also summoned Anne Patterson, the American ambassador to Islamabad, to lodge a strong protest over the strikes that have fuelled public anger, foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said in the capital.

Sadiq said the US diplomat was told that “continued drone attacks undermined public support for government counterterrorism efforts and stressed that these attacks must be stopped”.

“It was underscored to the US ambassador that such attacks were a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.

Related:
U.S. Strikes At Militants Deep Into Pakistan, Accepts Protests

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Russia Warns Georgia Against Improving Military

Russia’s Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Tuesday he was concerned by what he called Georgia’s efforts to boost its military potential, adding this could have bigger consequences than August’s conflict.

“The Georgian side’s efforts to increase the military potential is causing concern and I think those initiatives could have bigger consequences than what we saw in August,” he told a news conference in Ankara. He did not elaborate.

In a five-day war in August, Russian troops launched a massive counter-attack and took control of large swathes of Georgian territory after Tbilisi had tried to retake its rebel South Ossetia region by force earlier in the month.

(Reporting by Zerin and Elci and Ibon Villelabeitia for Reuters)

Iran warns U.S. military after Obama win

Iran warned U.S. forces in Iraq on Wednesday that it would respond to any violation of Iranian airspace, a message analysts said seemed directed at the new U.S. president-elect more than neighboring American troops.

Reuters

The Iranian army statement, reported by state radio, came after a cross-border raid last month by U.S. forces into Syria, a move that was condemned by Damascus and Tehran.

But an Iranian politician said the timing suggested it was directed at Barack Obama, who won Tuesday’s U.S. vote, more than the U.S. military, and might reflect concern by hardliners in Iran who thrived on confrontation with Washington.

Obama has said he would toughen sanctions on Iran but has also held out the possibility of direct talks to resolve rows, which include a dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

 
A U.S. Army Apache helicopter flies during a mission in Baquba, in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, November 4, 2008.(Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

“Recently it has been seen that American army helicopters were flying a small distance from Iraq’s border with Iran and, because of the closeness to the border, the danger of them violating Iran’s border is possible,” state radio reported.

“Iran’s armed forces will respond to any violation,” radio said, citing a statement from Iran’s army headquarters.

Washington, which has not had diplomatic ties with Tehran since 1980, has accused Iran of funding, equipping and training militants in Iraq. Iran denies this and says security problems are due to the presence of U.S. troops who should quit Iraq.

“This is a clear message to the American president-elect because radicals are not very happy that Obama has been elected,” said the Iranian politician.

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