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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cwg-is-an-appealing-lashkar-target-us-counterterror-chief/686343/2
Raghvendra Rao
Posted: Thu Sep 23 2010, 02:31 hrs
Updated: Thu Sep 23 2010, 04:04 hrs
New Delhi
With the security alert for the Commonwealth Games heightened after the September 19 firing near Jama Masjid, the chief of the US National Counterterrorism Center said today that the mega-event will be an “appealing target” for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba.
Testifying before the before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Nine Years after 9/11: Confronting the Terrorist Threat to the Homeland, US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Director Michael Leiter said: “We also are concerned that next month’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi will be an appealing target for LT (Lashkar-e-Toiba) due to their political and economic significance for India, as well as the heightened media exposure that will accompany the event.”
Set up in the aftermath of 9/11, NCTC is the nodal point for joint intelligence and joint operational planning of the United States security agencies. Stating that the “Pakistan-based Sunni extremist group” Lashkar posed a threat to a range of interests in South Asia, Leiter said: “Its attacks in Kashmir and India have had a destabilizing effect on the region, increasing tensions and brinkmanship between New Delhi and Islamabad. The group’s attack two years ago in Mumbai resulted in US and Western casualties, and the group continues to plan attacks in India that could harm US citizens and damage US interests.”
Leiter said that the Lashkar posed a threat to the US as well. “Although LT has not previously conducted attacks in the West, LT — or LT-trained individuals — could pose a direct threat to the Homeland and Europe, especially should they collude with al-Qaeda operatives,” he said.
Leiter said that the Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) had collaborated with Al Qaeda on attacks and training for HUJI members. “In January 2009, a federal grand jury indicted HUJI commander Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri in absentia for a disrupted terrorist plot against a newspaper in Denmark. The group also has been involved in multiple, high-casualty attacks, including an operation against a mosque in Hyderabad, India in May 2007 that killed 16, and an attack against Pakistani intelligence and police facilities in Lahore in 2009 that killed 23,” he said.
The NCTC chief said that Al-Qaeda in Pakistan was weaker today than at any time since the late 2001 onset of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
Raghvendra Rao
Posted: Thu Sep 23 2010, 02:31 hrs
Updated: Thu Sep 23 2010, 04:04 hrs
New Delhi
With the security alert for the Commonwealth Games heightened after the September 19 firing near Jama Masjid, the chief of the US National Counterterrorism Center said today that the mega-event will be an “appealing target” for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba.
Testifying before the before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Nine Years after 9/11: Confronting the Terrorist Threat to the Homeland, US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Director Michael Leiter said: “We also are concerned that next month’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi will be an appealing target for LT (Lashkar-e-Toiba) due to their political and economic significance for India, as well as the heightened media exposure that will accompany the event.”
Set up in the aftermath of 9/11, NCTC is the nodal point for joint intelligence and joint operational planning of the United States security agencies. Stating that the “Pakistan-based Sunni extremist group” Lashkar posed a threat to a range of interests in South Asia, Leiter said: “Its attacks in Kashmir and India have had a destabilizing effect on the region, increasing tensions and brinkmanship between New Delhi and Islamabad. The group’s attack two years ago in Mumbai resulted in US and Western casualties, and the group continues to plan attacks in India that could harm US citizens and damage US interests.”
Leiter said that the Lashkar posed a threat to the US as well. “Although LT has not previously conducted attacks in the West, LT — or LT-trained individuals — could pose a direct threat to the Homeland and Europe, especially should they collude with al-Qaeda operatives,” he said.
Leiter said that the Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) had collaborated with Al Qaeda on attacks and training for HUJI members. “In January 2009, a federal grand jury indicted HUJI commander Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri in absentia for a disrupted terrorist plot against a newspaper in Denmark. The group also has been involved in multiple, high-casualty attacks, including an operation against a mosque in Hyderabad, India in May 2007 that killed 16, and an attack against Pakistani intelligence and police facilities in Lahore in 2009 that killed 23,” he said.
The NCTC chief said that Al-Qaeda in Pakistan was weaker today than at any time since the late 2001 onset of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
