The Indian Panorama

Tag: Terror Attacks in India

  • Pathankot terror attack: All 5 terrorists neutralized | Jaish-e-Mohammed Blamed

    Pathankot terror attack: All 5 terrorists neutralized | Jaish-e-Mohammed Blamed

    Sunday January 3 (TIP): Five attackers and three members of the security forces were killed in an attack on an Indian air force base near the Pakistani border, officials confirmed.

    Security personnel secured Pathankot base on Saturday, January 2 evening, after a battle lasting more than 14 hours. The fierce gunbattle claimed the lives of three securitymen, while five infiltrators were killed, the attack came days after the Indian and Pakistani leaders, Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif, met in Lahore to launch a surprise peace initiative.

    The heavily-armed gunmen had entered the base dressed in Indian army uniforms.

    “I congratulate our armed forces and other security forces on successfully neutralising all the five terrorists in ‘Pathankot Operation,” tweeted Home Minister Rajnath Singh after the operation ended.

    Singh also offered condolences to the security men killed in the attack.

    “We have also lost security personnel in Pathankot attack. My heartfelt condolences to their families.We can never forget their sacrifice,” he further tweeted.

    “The nation is proud of its brave security forces who have always rose to the occasion. I salute our forces on successful operation in P’kot”, he tweeted.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed the bravery of the security personnel on successfully neutralising all the five terrorists.

    “Enemies of humanity who can’t see India progress, such elements attacked in Pathankot but our security forces did not let them succeed,” Modi said.

    “Why it that there have been two attacks within five months in Punjab, a state that had not seen any terrorism activities over 20 years?” questioned Congress leader Randeep Surjewala.

    No group has said it carried out the attack, which is being seen as an attempt to undermine those efforts.

    Pakistan condemned the attack and called it a “terrorist incident”, adding that it remained committed to peace efforts with India.

    Here are the key updates

    • Prime Minister Narendra Modi today hailed the bravery of the security personnel.”Enemies of humanity who can’t see India progress, such elements attacked in Pathankot but our security forces did not let them succeed,” he tweeted.
    • Home Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the security forces for the successful Pathankot operation. “I congratulate our armed forces and other security forces on successfully neutralising all the five terrorists in ‘Pathankot Operation’,” he tweeted.
    • The attack is suspected to have been carried out by the terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed
    • Security forces neutralised five terrorists following an attack on the Indian Air Force Station in north Punjab today.
    • Three Indian Force personnel were also killed in the encounter.
    • An hour after the gunbattle to weed out the remaining terrorists ended, gunshots were again heard. Security forces said it is likely a fifth terrorist is still inside the premises of the air force base.
    • Heavy firing could be heard from the IAF station area till 7.30 am.
    • The attack began with gunfire around 3.30am on Saturday.
    • Security forces were already on high alert over the past 24 hours after an incident in a nearby area where a senior police officer was abducted in his car late Thursday and later released.

    Some Indian security officials suggested the Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed was to blame.

    India says the group is backed by Pakistan, but Islamabad denies this.

    In July 2015 seven people were killed in a similar attack when gunmen stormed a police station in nearby Gurdaspur district.

     

  • Terror attack Hits Pathankot Air Force station in Punjab; 2 terrorists killed – Live Updates

    Terror attack Hits Pathankot Air Force station in Punjab; 2 terrorists killed – Live Updates

    Two terrorists have been killed, reports suggest 4-5 terrorists stormed base in Indian army fatigues. Fierce gun battle underway between security forces and terrorists.

    This story has been updated : Pathankot Terror Attack: All 5 Terrorists Neutralized | Jaish-E-Mohammed Blamed

    Two terrorists had been killed in the operation, whereas two or three others were still holed up in the area.

    Sources said that one air force personnel has also died during the gunbattle, while five others have been injured.

    According to ANI, four-five gunmen stormed base in Indian army fatigues. the firing is supposed to have taken place in technical area, and not near the hangers, according to sources.

    A fierce gunbattle is underway between the security forces and the attackers.

    As per latest reports, the terrorists have been contained to non-operational areas.

    At least two terrorists have been killed in a gun battle with the armed forces at the Pathankot Air Force Station on the Jammu-Pathankot highway. The BSF and Punjab Police have thrown a cordon around the air base and four military choppers are hovering over it.

    According to initial reports, the incident is being linked to the missing car of a Punjab SP on Friday morning.

    Meanwhile, authorities said the helicopters and other equipment in the Air base was safe. The entire area has been cordoned off, police said. The attackers had also made calls to Pakistan, police said.

    The attack comes days after PM Narendra Modi’s unscheduled visit to Pakistan. It is the second big terror attack in Punjab within less than a year as last year three militants stormed a police station in Diana Nagar before being eliminated after 12 hour gun battle.

     

  • David Headley writes his memoir in prison on 26/11 Mumbai attacks

    David Headley writes his memoir in prison on 26/11 Mumbai attacks

    WASHINGTON: Pakistani-American LeT terrorist David Headley, serving 35 years for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, has written a memoir in prison detailing how Lashkar’s “dedication” to the cause of the “liberation of Kashmir” inspired him to join the terror group.
     
    American public affairs TV programme Frontline was given access to a draft of the memoir Headley, 54, wrote in jail.
     
    Excerpts from the draft offer a “unique window” into Headley’s turn toward extremism, his training with Lashkar-e- Taiba and his preparations for the Denmark attack against the Jyllands-Posten newspaper.
     
    In one of the passages in the memoir, Headley writes about his first encounter with LeT militants in October 2000.
     
    “On one of my trips, October 2000, I made my first contact with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), quite by accident. I attended their annual convection in November. I was very impressed with their dedication to the cause of the liberation of Kashmir from Indian occupation,” Headley writes.
     
    He writes that for the terror attack on Mumbai, the plan was to capture an Indian fishing vessel that would not raise alarm with the Indian Coast Guard as it transported the LeT terrorists to Mumbai’s shores.
     
    “The plan was to capture an Indian fishing vessel, which constantly strayed into Pakistani waters, and commandeer it all the way to Mumbai. The hope was that the Indian Coast Guard would not notice an Indian vessel. The boys would carry a GPS device which would guide them directly to the landing site, I had selected earlier,” he writes.
     
    Headley also writes in detail about his decision to join Lashkar “full time” following the 9/11 attacks, and says that by 2002 the group asked him to take “the Daura Aamma, the basic military training course offered by LeT.”
     
    In 2005, Lashkar asked him to change his name from Dawood Gilani to a “Christiansounding name” so that he could travel easily between the US, India and Pakistan and make it difficult for intelligence agencies to track his activities.
     
    “Finally, in June, my immediate superior, Sajid Mir, instructed me to return to the US, change my Muslim name to a Christian sounding name and get a new US passport under that name. He now informed me I would be going to India, since I looked nothing like a Pakistani in appearance and spoke fluent Hindi and Urdu it would give me a distinct advantage in India,” he said.
     
    Describing the training he got at Lashkar camps, Headley writes “we hid most of the day in caves and under trees, while we were given instructions on various lessons.”
     
    He says most of the “practical aspects” of the lessons were carried out at night and during the course, he was trained in “infiltration, survival, camouflage, raid/ambush tactics, hide out, hiding and retrieving weapons caches, more than a dozen night marches, target practice with AK-47 and 9 mm pistol, RPG, grenades, among other training.
  • 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks-US Court Sentences David Headley to 35 Years in Jail

    26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks-US Court Sentences David Headley to 35 Years in Jail

    CHICAGO (TIP): Exactly seven days after his accomplice Tahawwur Rana was sentenced to 14 years in jail, Pakistani- American LeT terrorist David Headley was on Thursday, January 24, sentenced to 35 years in jail by a US court for helping plot the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks but escaped death penalty under a deal with the U.S. investigators over which the judge had serious reservations.

    “The sentence I impose, I’m hopeful it will keep Mr. Headley under lock and key for the rest of his natural life,” US District Judge Harry Leinenweber said. The Judge said it would have been much easier to impose the death penalty. “That’s what you deserve”. 52-year-old Headley had entered into a plea bargain with the US investigators under which he escaped death sentence. But many were left surprised when the US prosecutors did not seek life sentence for Headley. Headley was ordered to serve 35 years, followed by five years of supervised release by Leinenweber. There is no federal parole and defendants must serve at least 85 percent of their sentence. “Mr. Headley is a terrorist,” the Judge said while imposing the sentence on 12 counts in a packed court. Leinenweber also said, “He commits crime, cooperates and then gets rewarded for the cooperation. “No matter what I do, it is not going to deter terrorists. Unfortunately, terrorists do not care for it.

    I do not have any faith in Mr. Headley when he says that he is a changed person now. “I do believe that it is my duty to protect the public from Mr. Headley and ensure that he does not get into any further terrorist activities. Recommending 35 years is not a right sentence”. Asked if he wanted to make a statement, Headley, said, “No your honor”… In pleading guilty and later testifying for the government at the trial of co-defendant and school time friend Tahawwur Rana, Headley admitted that he attended training camps in Pakistan operated by Lashkar-e-Taiba, on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005.

    In late 2005, Headley received instructions from three members of Lashkar to travel to India to conduct surveillance, which he did five times leading up to the Mumbai attacks in 2008 that killed approximately 166 people, including six Americans, and wounded hundreds more. A week back, Leinenweber had sentenced Rana for 14 years of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release for providing material support to LeT and planning terrorist attack against a Danish newspaper in Copenhagen. Both Headley and Rana were arrested in 2009. Headley was small-time narcotics dealer turned US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) informer who went rogue.

    In their closing arguments, US attorneys Daniel J Collins and Sarah E Streicker had sought between 30 and 35 years of imprisonment for Headley. His attorneys Robert David Seeder and John Thomas had sought a lighter sentence arguing he had given huge amount of information to the US government against terrorist organizations like LeT and several of its leaders. Headley has confessed that he had undertaken numerous scouting missions for his handlers in Pakistan.

    He had videographed a number of targets in India including the iconic Taj hotel in Mumbai which was attacked by 10 LeT terrorists. According to security agencies, the detailed videos made by Headley was the foundation on which the Mumbai attacks was planned and carried out. Headley, born to a Pakistani father and American mother, had even changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 to easily move in and out of India without raising suspicion.

    The US attorneys argued that while there is no question that Headley’s criminal conduct was deplorable, his decision to cooperate, provided uniquely significant value to the US government’s efforts to combat terrorism. “We are seeking less than life time sentencing, because of the significant intelligence value information provided by Headley. Crime is deplorable, shocking and horrific. “We have to recognize the significant value of the information.We believe that 30-35 years of imprisonment would be justified and balance and thus be downgraded from life sentence,” Collins said. Former US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who appeared in court, urged leniency saying that Headley’s decision to become an informant “saved lives.”

  • Tahawwur Rana, Linked To 26/11 Mumbai Terrorist Attacks, Sentenced To 14 Years In Jail

    Tahawwur Rana, Linked To 26/11 Mumbai Terrorist Attacks, Sentenced To 14 Years In Jail

    CHICAGO (TIP): Tahawwur Rana, an accomplice of convicted terrorist David Headley, was sentenced January 17 to 14 years in jail followed by five years of supervised release by a US court for providing material support to Pakistan-based LeT and for backing a plot to strike a Danish newspaper. 52-year-old Pakistani- Canadian Rana was sentenced by the Chicago federal court despite his defense attorneys seeking a lighter sentence of not more than a 9-year jail term, citing his poor health. US prosecutors had sought 30 years for Rana, who his lawyers said was duped into participation by his school-time friend Headley.

    Rana was convicted in June 2011 by a federal grand jury, which found the businessman guilty of providing material support to LeT and planning an aborted plot to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Rana, who was originally arrested in 2009 for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was acquitted of that charge. However, Indian investigators have accused him of being involved in the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and are seeking to question him for the second time. Headley, who conducted reconnaissance of the targets of the Mumbai terror attacks for LeT, had entered a plea bargain with the FBI, saving himself from a possible death penalty.

    Acting US attorney Gary S Shapiro has requested the Chicago court in a position paper that Rana be handed down a total of 30 years in prison. Referring to the heart attack Rana suffered in June 2012 and the hospitalization thereafter, his attorney Patrick W Blegan had told the court earlier, “It is likely that his health will continue to deteriorate. He will likely at some point require dialysis due to his kidney disease, and is, of course, at risk for a second heart attack or vasovagal event”. Pakistan-born, Rana is a naturalized Canadian citizen who later on moved to Chicago for business purposes and has been living here for more than a decade now.

    Rana is the first of the eight co-defendants who were indicted by the federal prosecutors in October, to be sentenced by the Chicago Court. Sentencing of Headley has been scheduled for January 24. In March 2010, he pleaded guilty to all 12 counts against him, including aiding and abetting the murders of the six American victims. Facing a maximum sentence of life in prison, Headley cooperated with the government since he was arrested in October 2009, and testified as a government witness at Rana’s trial.

    Among other six indicted by the FBI, include Ilyas Kashmiri, influential terrorist organization leader in Pakistan who is in regular contact with of al-Qaida leaders; and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman), a retired major in the Pakistani military, both of whom were charged in two conspiracy counts relating to the Denmark terrorism plot.