"CHILLING telephone conversations between the Mumbai gunmen and their handlers have emerged from an Indian dossier of evidence linking the attacks to Pakistan.
During the atrocities a gunman speaking from the Taj Mahal hotel told his commander, believed to have been in Pakistan: "We have three foreigners, including women." The response was brutal: "Kill them." Gunshots then rang out, followed by cheers, according to a leaked transcript of the intercepted call.
The details emerged as the Pakistan Government admitted for the first time that Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the sole gunman to be captured alive during the attacks, which left more than 170 people dead, was a Pakistani citizen.
"We have been informed by the authorities that Ajmal Kasab is a Pakistani national," an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
The dossier also describes how the Pakistan-based handlers ordered another team of gunmen who had seized Nariman House, an ultra-orthodox Jewish centre, to kill their hostages.
"If you are threatened, immediately kill them," one handler said. "
If the hostages are killed, it will spoil relations between India and Israel." The gunman replied: "So be it, God willing." Six Jewish foreigners, including a rabbi and his wife, were shot dead inside the building.Those giving the orders were alleged to be senior members of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based faction that Indian officials believe still has the support of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency.
They include Zarar Shah, LeT's communications chief, who has been arrested in Pakistan and is believed to have admitted his role to Pakistani investigators. "He played a major part," said Rakesh Maria, the officer in charge of the investigation in Mumbai. The calls were part of a dossier handed to Pakistan's high commission in Delhi on Monday.
"The commanders are following events on television and are issuing real-time instructions;
telling the gunmen to target certain nationalities and religions; to maximise casualties; not to touch Muslims. This is hands-on direction," a senior Indian Government official told The Times.
The dossier, which has been passed to Britain, the US, China and Israel, also includes an alleged confession from Kasab. In it he says that he is a Pakistani national who was trained for more than a year by LeT in Pakistan.
India expects the material to increase international pressure on Pakistan to dismantle the support network used by Islamist militants within its borders, much of which dates to the CIA's backing of Pakistan-based jihadists against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, made the clearest accusation yet that elements inside Pakistan's Government were behind the Mumbai atrocities. "There is enough evidence to show that it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan," he said.
Following the admission from Pakistan confirming a link to the attacks, Yousaf Gilani, the country's Prime Minister, dismissed Mehmood Ali Durrani, his national security adviser.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24887111-2703,00.html
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