(C) LOCAL MUSLIMS AND PAKISTAN NATIONALS PLANTED BOMBS ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MUMBAI 001755 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR OPS CENTER, S/CT, SCA/INS, DS, DS/IP/ITA, DS/IP/SCA, DS/ICI/PII E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/27/2016 TAGS: PREL PTER PGOV KISL CASC ASEC PK IN SUBJECT: (C) LOCAL MUSLIMS AND PAKISTAN NATIONALS PLANTED BOMBS ON MUMBAI TRAINS, POLICE CHIEF TELLS CONSUL GENERAL REF: MUMBAI 1653 CLASSIFIED BY: Michael S. Owen, Consul General, Consulate General Mumbai, State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Three local Muslims and four Pakistanis planted the bombs that killed 187 persons on seven Mumbai commuter trains in July, the Mumbai police chief told the Consul General on September 26. A.N. Roy said the police had detained two of the local men who had planted bombs. One of the two men had given interrogators names and background information on the other suspects, Roy said. The police now believe that one of the suspects was killed by the bomb he planted; his remains were those of the last bombing victim that had yet to be identified, Roy added. The other suspects had probably fled to Pakistan via Bangladesh or by crossing the long common border in Rajasthan. The bombers used pressure cookers or umbrellas to hide the devices and to divert attention from themselves, Roy said. Roy dismissed media reports linking the bombers to Al-Qaida, and said police would go public with the information on the bombers once they had "tied up loose ends" in the investigation. The news that local Muslims not only provided logistical support, but also planted some of the bombs that killed Mumbai commuters at the height of the evening rush hour, may well damage the city's notable communal harmony that the bombings failed to disrupt and shed new light on the extent and capability of extremist elements in the city's large and diverse Muslim community. End summary. Four Pakistanis, Three Local Muslims Planted The Bombs -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy told the Consul General on September 26 that investigators have identified the individuals who placed the bombs in the seven commuter trains on July 11. The seven near simultaneous explosions killed 187 persons and injured hundreds more at the height of the evening rush hour. ¶3. (C) Roy said four of the bombers were Pakistanis and three were Indian citizens from the Mumbai area. Police now believe that one of the four Pakistanis did not survive the attack, and is the one remaining victim of the explosions whose remains have yet to be identified. The three other Pakistani bombers had fled India, Roy said, as had an additional Pakistan national who police believe had assembled the bombs. Two of the three Indian bombers were in police custody; one of those detained was now providing investigators with the names and background of the other bombers, Roy told the CG. (Note: Police have arrested about a dozen Muslim men from Mumbai and Bihar in connection with the bombings. Until now, the men have been charged for their alleged affiliation to the outlawed groups that police believe perpetrated the attacks, but not for any crime directly linked to the bombings themselves. End note.) ¶4. (C) Roy said investigators believe that the Pakistani bombers fled the country either via Bangladesh or through Rajasthan and the long common border with Pakistan. Police suspected that the third Indian national had escaped with the Pakistanis. He also did not comment on media reports earlier in the week that the bombers hid in the predominantly Muslim town of Buranpur in Madhya Pradesh in the days following the bombings before escaping the country. Roy did not share any names with the Consul General, nor did he confirm whether the media had accurately identified the seven men in recent reports. The Pakistan Nexus MUMBAI 00001755 002 OF 003 -------------- ¶5. (C) At least one of the Indian nationals now in custody had received training at a terror camp in Pakistan, Roy claimed. The man traveled to Pakistan via Saudi Arabia and Iran, and crossed the Iran/Pakistan land border into the western Pakistan region of Baluchistan. He told investigators he received training at a camp in Bahawalpur in Pakistani Punjab, and mentioned training camps in Quetta and Karachi as well. He returned to Saudi Arabia via the same route. Once in Saudi Arabia, his terrorist masters destroyed his passport to cover his trail, Roy said. Saudi immigration authorities expelled him after declaring him a stateless person, and he was able to return to India, Roy added. ¶6. (C) Roy said investigators are convinced that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was behind the attacks. The banned Students' Islamic Movement of India likely played a role as well. Roy said the sophistication of the planning and execution and the technical quality of the bombs pointed to the involvement of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI),but he added that police had yet to conclusively link the organization to the bombings. Investigators were convinced that numerous LeT sleeper cells continued to exist in western India, he said. Police would be on high-alert during the coming Diwali celebrations (the week of October 23-27) as they feared that LeT groups may plan further attacks. Bombs Hidden in Pressure Cookers, Umbrellas -------------- ¶7. (C) The perpetrators had smuggled 15-20 kilograms of RDX into the country, an amount sufficient for the seven bombs, Roy said. Investigators now believed that at least three of the bombs, a mixture of RDX and ammonium nitrate, were contained in pressure cookers and placed in zipped bags that are commonly used by commuters to carry their lunches, Roy said. Two other bombs were probably contained in umbrellas. The packing was likely meant to divert attention away from the bombers carrying packages onto the crowded trains at the height of the rush hour, Roy said. The investigation has been hampered by the fact that the bombs had left almost no traces. Unlike other recent bombing incidents, where individual devices that had failed to detonate gave investigators useful leads, the seven bombs all exploded fully and made the investigation more difficult, he said. Roy did not comment on media reports that police now believed that the Mumbai bombings were linked to terror attacks in New Delhi in October, 2005, and Varanasi in March, where pressure cookers had also been used. No link to Al-Qaida, 9/11 -------------- ¶8. (C) Roy denied recent press reports that police had linked the Mumbai train bombings to Al-Qaida, and that some of those involved in the July 11 bombings had trained with Mohammad Atta in Pakistan in 2000. "About 99.9 percent" of what the press reported on the investigation was inaccurate, Roy said. The police did not publicly comment on press reports, he added, because they did not want to divulge information while the investigation was still underway. Malegaon Bombing Update -------------- ¶9. (C) Roy said the police were following numerous leads in the September 8 bombings in the western Indian city of Malegaon (reftel) that killed 37 persons. The CG asked whether the police believed that Hindu extremist groups carried out the MUMBAI 00001755 003 OF 003 bombings, as the bombings apparently targeted large numbers of Muslims that had congregated near a mosque and a cemetery after Friday prayers on the eve of an important Muslim holy night. Roy said that while investigators had not ruled out that possibility, he was skeptical whether the known Hindu extremist groups had the capability to execute such an attack. In addition, non-Muslims would have found it difficult to penetrate the heavily Muslim areas around the bomb sites without attracting attention to themselves, he said. Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) Roy told the CG that the police would probably go public with their most recent findings once they had "tied up a few more loose ends" in the investigation. Thanks to intensive media coverage and speculation, it will be no surprise when the police announce that Pakistan nationals planted four of the seven bombs. It will be news, however, when they claim that local Muslims planted three of the devices. Until now, it was commonly believed -- or perhaps just hoped -- that local Muslims were not involved in the actual execution of the attacks, but at worst provided only local logistical support and may have not even been aware of the actual goal of the operation. As Roy's comments demonstrate, however, the police now are confident that local Muslims did play a direct, hands-on role in the killing of 187 Mumbai commuters. Since July 11 Mumbai has praised itself in op-ed commentaries, political speeches and everyday discourse for the city's sober and unemotional reaction to the bombings. That balanced view is bound to change once it becomes public knowledge that local Muslims are also responsible for the bloodshed. We do not expect communal unrest once the news becomes public, but the knowledge will no doubt cause many otherwise sober observers to rethink their assessment of the extent and capability of extremist elements in the city's large and diverse Muslim community. End comment. OWEN