Bloomberg : Pakistan ISI Involved in Train Blasts, Mumbai Investigators Say

Pakistan ISI Involved in Train Blasts, Mumbai Investigators Say

By Gautam Chakravorthy | September 30, 2006

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Indian police accused Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence Agency, or ISI, and militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of involvement in the July 11, Mumbai serial train bomb blasts. Pakistan immediately denied the charges.

Militant group Laskhar was primarily responsible for carrying out the bombing, for which their operatives had been trained in Pakistan, Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy said, after announcing the completion of an investigation into the serial blasts. Local operatives of Students Islamic Movement of India were also involved he said.

The status of the Himalayan Kashmir region, a territory both countries claim in full and control only in parts, is at the center of dispute between the two South Asian nuclear-armed neighbors. More than two dozen rebel groups are fighting against Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state.

The bombers used a combination of ammonium nitrate and RDX, or Royal Demolition Explosive, in the attacks, Roy said in a televised press conference today in Mumbai. As much as 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of RDX was used in the seven blasts on Mumbai's suburban trains.

Planning for the attacks, which claimed more than 180 lives and injured about 900 people, began as early as March. Police have arrested 15 suspects, and the roles of 12 people have been directly established, Roy said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month said Pakistan hadn't done enough to control the use of its territory for mounting terrorist attacks against India.

Pakistan Denies Charges

``These groups, whether it's Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e- Mohammad, they can act autonomously also,'' Singh said. ``Our worry has been that Pakistan's government has not done enough to control these elements.''

Pakistani government spokesman Ashfaque Gondal, speaking today in a telephone interview from the capital Islamabad, said the allegation was ``absurd.''

The country's president, Pervez Musharraf, ``has already offered India any assistance in investigating the case. We deny any involvement or the involvement of any of the government's agencies in the attacks,'' he said.

``Lashkar-e-Taiba is already a banned outfit in Pakistan. It has no existence or links with any of the Pakistani agencies. The sensitivity of the case demands more responsibility, rather than shifting blame,'' he said.

India postponed a meeting of the foreign secretaries of both countries after the train blasts, which killed at least 182 people.

Teams of Two

Teams of two, comprising one Indian and one Pakistani, fanned out in Mumbai's suburban trains to carry out the attacks, Roy said. A total of 11 Pakistanis were involved in the serial blasts, including one who died, he said.

Mumbai's commuter trains carry more than a third of the city's 16 million people every day between the suburbs and the downtown business district. Mumbai is home to some of the largest companies, the country's two main stock exchanges, the biggest diamond, gold and commodities trading centers and the mainstream Hindi film industry.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gautam Chakravorthy in Mumbai at chakravorthy@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: September 30, 2006 07:08 EDT