Author: PTI
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 3, 2010
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/239817/Indian-missions-under-fresh-terror-threat.html
Indian missions in Afghanistan are under fresh
threat from terror outfits as intelligence inputs suggest that such groups
are planning new attacks.
The fresh inputs received from Indian as well
as international intelligence agencies said that terrorists may target Indian
missions in Kabul and Jalalabad, Union Home Ministry sources said.
The inputs come days after the February 26
attack on Indians in Afghanistan by LeT terrorists who targeted hotels, killing
seven Indians associated with developmental work in the country, including
three Major rank Army officers.
The victims in the Kabul massacre included
seven Indians, one Italian, a French filmmaker, three Afghan policemen, four
civilians and another person whose body was too dismembered to identify.
This is the fourth attack targeted at Indians
in Kabul since July 2008 when 60 people, including four Indian embassy officials,
were killed in a massive car bomb attack on the embassy building.
Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, responsible
for the Mumbai attack, has been blamed by an Afghan intelligence official
for the attack last week.
Holbrooke's comments on Kabul attack surprises
India
PTI | New Delhi: The contention by US Special
Envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke that Indians were not
the target of the latest Kabul attack has come as a surprise to the government
here.
Sources said the comments were surprising
considering the fact that the Afghan government has clearly stated that attack
was against Indians and carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT),
whose sworn agenda is to target Indian interests.
Holbrooke had told reporters in Washington
yesterday that he did not "accept the fact that this was an attack on
an Indian facility like the (Indian) embassy. They were foreigners, non-Indian
foreigners hurt. It was a soft target. Let's not jump to conclusions."The
sources here wondered on what basis Holbrooke made the statement.
Seven Indians, including three Major-rank
army officers, associated with developmental projects were killed and nine
others, including four army officers, were injured in the assault that was
reminiscent of 26/11.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has termed it
as an attack on Indians. Afghanistan's intelligence service has said that
the attack was directed against Indians and gunmen had detailed knowledge,
including names, of Indian guests at the two hotels -- Park Residency and
Noor Guest House, which were targeted in Kabul on Friday last.
"We are very close to the exact proof
and evidence that the attack on the Indian guest house ... Is not the work
of the Afghan Taliban but this attack was carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba network,
who are dependent on the Pakistan military," the Afghan intelligence
agency's spokesman Saeed Ansari said in an interview.
According to sources, the attackers, after
detonating an explosion, stormed the two hotels and hunted for Indians staying
there. One of the attackers, speaking in Urdu, even was calling his targets
by name, according a report in Washington Post.
It is widely believed that LeT is a proxy
for Pakistani agencies.
