We know David Headley has been charged with helping to set up the Mumbai massacre.
Now there is evidence he may have had a hand in the latest terror
attack in India, though he has been behind bars in the U.S. since
November. Richard L. Benkin sends us this report:
Islamic
terrorist struck India yesterday, bringing death and destruction in the
western city of Pune, a financial hub 58 miles from
Mumbai. According to the Indian Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), which has
taken charge of the case, terrorists left an explosive-filled backpack
under a counter at the “German Bakery,” an establishment that is very
popular with tourists and locals in this city of over five million
people.
The
bakery was completely demolished. At this point, there are nine
dead, all Indians, and 57 injured. One of the injured remains in
critical condition, and 19 have been released from the hospital as of
this writing several hours after the blast.
While
the specific identity of the terrorists has not been established, the
ATS and major Indian officials have said that the terrorists were
“Indian Mujahadeen,” as opposed to the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai
terrorist attack who were based in Pakistan. Officials have called
the bakery a “soft target,” and that the Islamists were really after
“hard targets”: the nearby Osho Ashram and Pune’s Chabad
House. The Ashram is a prominent institution in the city for
religious Hindus, who are often targeted by Muslim terrorists; and the
Chabad House is a center for religious Jews and was a primary target in
the Mumbai attacks, as well as the site of the most gruesome incidents
of torture by the terrorists.
The
Indian government has also announced that American Islamist David
Headley had scouted both the Osho Ashram and the Chabad House in
preparation for terror attacks. Today’s blast, was related to
Headley’s actions. David Headley faces federal charges in a
Chicago federal court. According to the FBI, they include “six
counts of conspiracy involving bombing public places in India,
murdering and maiming persons in India and Denmark, providing material
support to foreign terrorist plots, and providing material support to
[Pakistani terrorist group] Lashkar [e Taibe], and six counts of aiding
and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in India.”
Security
has become very tight all over India, and the ATS announced that it
foiled one major terrorist attack only hours after the Pune
blast. Police in the city of Vapi recovered 200 kilograms of
ammonium nitrate, 600 detonators, and 200 gel sticks from
known Muslim terrorists there. The state of Gujurat,
where Vapi is located, has become a clarion cry for radical
Muslims ever since communal violence there took the lives of over
1200 people.
Although
it has not been suggested that Pakistan had a role in yesterday’s
attack in Pune, the incident has placed the February 25 talks in
jeopardy, with tensions again rising.
