MUMBAI BOMBING INVESTIGATIONS REVEAL DETAILS OF MUSLIM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 MUMBAI 001652 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR OPS CENTER, S/CT, SCA/INS, DS, DS/IP/ITA, DS/IP/SCA, DS/ICI/PII E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/8/2016 TAGS: PREL PTER PGOV KISL CASC ASEC PK IN SUBJECT: MUMBAI BOMBING INVESTIGATIONS REVEAL DETAILS OF MUSLIM EXTREMISM IN WESTERN INDIA REF: A: MUMBAI 1360; B: MUMBAI 1506; C: MUMBAI 1332 CLASSIFIED BY: Michael S. Owen, Consul General, Consulate General Mumbai, State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Although police have now arrested 14 men in connection with the July 11 Mumbai train bombings, investigators still appear to know little about the actual perpetrators of the well-planned act of terrorism that killed 187 people and left few traces. All those arrested have been charged on the basis of their suspected connections with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI),the two groups that investigators firmly believe are responsible for the attacks. The arrested men's links to the attack itself are appearing more difficult to prove, although P.S. Pasricha, Maharashtra's Director General of Police, told the Consul General that he's convinced that the arrested were involved in the bombings. The investigation is providing more insight into the reach and methods of Islamic extremist groups in western India. Police and our contacts in the Muslim community now acknowledge that many cells of young men, trained and indoctrinated abroad by professional jihadist groups, are buried deep inside Muslim communities in Mumbai and throughout Maharashtra. Their numbers, both in absolute and relative terms, appear to be miniscule, and their radical mindset is not reflective of thinking of the vast majority of the region's large and diverse Muslim community. The July 11 bombings, however, demonstrate that they can be used effectively as a support network for terrorist acts. Worrisome is also Pasricha's claim that police now fear that some cells may now have been empowered to plan and execute acts on their own. End summary. Fourteen Men Arrested in Connection with Bombings.... -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) Fourteen men have now been arrested in connection with the July 11 train bombings in Mumbai that killed 187 people. According to media reports, police made three arrests on September 7 in a Mumbai suburb. On September 3 a Mumbai court charged suspected Pakistan militant Akmal Hashmi with conspiracy after Hashmi apparently provided investigators with information on the perpetrators of the bombings. According to media reports that we have been unable to verify with Mumbai police, Hashmi told investigators that 17 men trained by the Kashmir militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) carried out the bombings. Indian police in Kashmir arrested Hashmi on August 23 and turned him over to Mumbai authorities on September 2. Several media outlets quote unidentified Kashmir police officials as questioning the reliability of Hashmi, however. ¶3. (U) On September 3 Mumbai police sent two of those arrested earlier, Tanvir Ansari and Kamal Ahmed (ref A) to a special police facility in Bangalore for lie-detector tests. Media outlets quote unnamed police officials as saying that the two men have information on several of the seven bombings, a claim that we could not corroborate with Mumbai police. MUMBAI 00001652 002 OF 004 ....Yet Links to July 11 Remain Unclear -------------- ¶4. (C) It remains unclear what, if any, direct role that those arrested actually played in the train bombings. All have been charged with crimes related to their alleged affiliation to banned terror groups. Police officials have told us that the arrested were all conclusively linked to either LeT or the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI),the two groups suspected of conducting the bombings. Yet the head of the state's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) told us (ref B) that the police could not link those arrested to either the planning or execution of the attacks. In a August 23 meeting with the Consul General, however, Maharashtra Director General of Police P.S. Pasricha said that the arrested men were "100 percent" involved in the bombings. Pasricha said that the men had been part of the support cells that facilitated the actual bombers, but did not specify in greater detail what the police know about the men's actual role. Another "80 to 90" persons were in custody but had not been charged, Pasricha said. Since the August 23 conversation, however, none of these persons had been charged. Police Still Trying to Identify One Victim of Bombing -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Pasricha confirmed that forensic experts had yet to determine whether the one unidentified victim of the bombings was in fact one of the perpetrators. Police had created a physical copy of the deceased's face in the hope that it will help investigators identify the victim. The police are not ruling out the possibility that one of the terrorists died in the bombing after no one came forth to claim the body and after a little-known group taking credit for the bombing said that all but one of the perpetrators returned to Kashmir successfully. Hashmi, the Kashmiri arrested on September 3, reportedly told the press that 16 of the 17 LeT members who carried out the attacks had survived. ¶6. (C) Pasricha reiterated his conviction (ref C) that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) was "100 percent" involved in the bombings. He said that investigators had proof that Kamal Ahmed Ansari, arrested in his village near the India-Nepal border in Bihar, had smuggled weapons and explosives over the border that ultimately found their way to Mumbai. Investigation Reveals Details About Local Terror Cells -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) While top-level police officials still appear to understand little about the actual planning and execution of the bombings, our discussions reveal that the investigation is giving police more insight into the reach and methods of Islamic extremist groups in western India. Pasricha seconded Raghuvashni's comments (reported in ref B) that local extremist MUMBAI 00001652 003 OF 004 groups had become widespread and active in western India. Pasricha said that SIMI groups were particularly active in many second-tier cities of western Maharashtra with sizable Muslim populations. He specifically mentioned Jalgaon and Akola, two cities located to the northeast of Mumbai, as centers of the SIMI movement. Pasricha said other cities named by those detained were Pune, Kolhapur, Maleaon and Beed, all cities in northwestern or southwestern Maharashtra. Pasricha said that SIMI had established large numbers of cells throughout Muslim communities. The cells were typically very small -- two to three persons was the normal size -- and operated on a strict need-to-know basis. All of those arrested in connection with the July 11 bombings had received training in Pakistan, he said. Echoing Raghuvashni's description of the men, Pasricha said they had returned from Pakistan "brainwashed" and "hardened." ¶8. (C) Pasricha said that many of those arrested told investigators that they returned from Pakistan with instructions to "lay low" and await a "green signal" from liaisons. All were unaware of the role they would be asked to play in future terrorist plots, of the actual background of their liaison contacts, or the ultimate target of any such plots. In any case the men appeared to have been trained to carry out support and logistics assignments, he said. Pasricha added, however, that in recent months investigators were receiving intelligence that some cells had become more empowered to plan and execute acts on their own. He was not more specific. ¶9. (C) Pasricha also provided the Consul General with background on the August 22 shootout between two alleged Pakistani operatives and police in Mumbai. Pasricha said police, acting on a tip, detained Pakistan citizen Mohammad Riyaz on the evening of August 21. They found a weapon and RDX explosives Riyaz's vehicle. The suspect directed police to an abandoned government apartment complex in the Malabar Hill area of the city where they located and killed another Pakistan citizen, whom Pasricha identified as Mohammad Ali, in a gunfight. Police found 3.5kg of RDX and 1.5kg of ammonium nitrate, so called "pencil" timers, an AK-47 gun and a 9 mm pistol. Pasricha said the police were unaware if the two men were linked to the July 11 bombings, but he said that the find was clear evidence that the men were part of a plot to conduct some sort of terrorist attack in Mumbai or elsewhere. Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) It remains to be seen whether the latest arrest will actually lead to a breakthrough in the investigation. Our most recent discussion with Police DG Pasricha, however, only confirms the view that investigators still know little about the perpetrators and their exact modus operandi, although police appear to believe beyond any doubt that LeT and SIMI are responsible for the well-planned and well-executed terror attacks. At the same time, the investigation is revealing more details about the reach of Islamic fundamentalist groups in western India. Our sources in the Mumbai police and in the Muslim community now acknowledge that countless cells of young men, trained and indoctrinated abroad by professional jihadist groups, are buried deep inside Muslim communities in Mumbai and throughout Maharashtra. Their numbers, both in absolute and relative terms, appear to be miniscule, and their mindset is not reflective of that of the vast majority of the region's large and diverse Muslim community. The July 11 bombings, however, MUMBAI 00001652 004 OF 004 demonstrate that they can be used effectively as a support network for terrorist acts. Particularly worrisome is Pasricha's message that some of these groups may now be empowered to act on their own. The July 11 attacks failed to incite communal passions, and Mumbai Muslims remain proud that their communities are not breeding groups for terrorism, despite Muslims' widespread dissatisfaction with their status in Indian society and the perceived failure of the Indian judicial and political system to hold accountable those who committed crimes against Muslims in Babri and Gujarat. That existing peaceful communal balance in Mumbai could change, however, if local cells begin to initiate their own acts of terror. End comment. OWEN