Clues suggest home-grown terrorists in India attack

Monday, December 01, 2008
LONDON: The attack on India's financial capital bears all the trademarks of al-Qaida but clues so far point to home-grown Indian terrorists, global intelligence officials said on Thursday.

ìWe have been actively monitoring plots in Britain and abroad and there was nothing to indicate something like this was about to happen,î a British security official told The Associated Press.

Ajai Sahni, head of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management who has close ties to India's police and intelligence, said the attack was a departure from past assaults waged over Kashmir. Other such attacks had targeted Indian legislators, not Westerners.

Another British security official told the AP on condition of anonymity that the attack doesn't look to have been directed by al-Qaida's core leadership. The British security official said it appeared the attack was inspired by Islamic extremist ideology and al-Qaida propaganda popular among radicalized youths.Gunaratna said he believed the group that carried out Wednesday's attack was the Indian Mujahideen, responsible for past attacks in Mumbai.

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