Related News
'Shoot them,' hotel gunman told
Source: Agencies |
January 8, 2009, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
"WE have three foreigners, including women," the gunman said into the phone.
The response was brutally simple: "Kill them." Gunshots then rang out inside the Mumbai hotel, followed by cheering.
The ruthless exchange comes from a transcript of phone calls Indian authorities say they intercepted during the November Mumbai attacks. They were part of a dossier of evidence New Delhi handed Pakistan this week that it says proves the siege was launched from across the border.
Pakistani authorities are reviewing the evidence but have dismissed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's claims that Pakistani state agencies must have had a hand in the attacks. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani accused India of waging a "media and diplomatic offensive against Pakistan."
"It is clearly unhelpful to any serious and objective investigations and amounts to unnecessarily whipping up tensions in South Asia," Gilani said.
Indian leaders have made clear they do not want a military conflict with Pakistan, and Pakistan's intelligence chief says there will be no war over the Mumbai attacks. "We may be crazy in Pakistan, but not completely out of our minds," Pakistan's intelligence chief, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, said. "We know full well that terror is our enemy, not India."
The Mumbai transcripts, which were translated into English by Indian authorities, show that the 10 gunmen who carried out the attacks were in close contact with their handlers throughout the siege. India says the handlers directing the attacks that left 164 dead were senior leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group.
One handler told a team of gunmen who had seized a Jewish center to shoot hostages if necessary. "If you are still threatened, then don't saddle yourself with the burden of the hostages. Immediately kill them," he said. Six Jewish foreigners, including a rabbi and his wife, were killed inside the center.
Later, the handlers urged the gunmen to "be strong in the name of Allah."
The response was brutally simple: "Kill them." Gunshots then rang out inside the Mumbai hotel, followed by cheering.
The ruthless exchange comes from a transcript of phone calls Indian authorities say they intercepted during the November Mumbai attacks. They were part of a dossier of evidence New Delhi handed Pakistan this week that it says proves the siege was launched from across the border.
Pakistani authorities are reviewing the evidence but have dismissed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's claims that Pakistani state agencies must have had a hand in the attacks. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani accused India of waging a "media and diplomatic offensive against Pakistan."
"It is clearly unhelpful to any serious and objective investigations and amounts to unnecessarily whipping up tensions in South Asia," Gilani said.
Indian leaders have made clear they do not want a military conflict with Pakistan, and Pakistan's intelligence chief says there will be no war over the Mumbai attacks. "We may be crazy in Pakistan, but not completely out of our minds," Pakistan's intelligence chief, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, said. "We know full well that terror is our enemy, not India."
The Mumbai transcripts, which were translated into English by Indian authorities, show that the 10 gunmen who carried out the attacks were in close contact with their handlers throughout the siege. India says the handlers directing the attacks that left 164 dead were senior leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group.
One handler told a team of gunmen who had seized a Jewish center to shoot hostages if necessary. "If you are still threatened, then don't saddle yourself with the burden of the hostages. Immediately kill them," he said. Six Jewish foreigners, including a rabbi and his wife, were killed inside the center.
Later, the handlers urged the gunmen to "be strong in the name of Allah."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
