----- Original Message ----- From: Mahmudul Hasan
FBI Finds no Pakistan Link to Mumbai By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent Indian claims the Mumbai attackers were Pakistanis and had some links to Pakistani security agencies. (Mumbai) ISLAMABAD — America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have found no link between attacks on India's financial hub of Mumbai and Pakistani intelligence agencies, US and Pakistan officials have confirmed. "The FBI team thinks, on the basis of evidence and meetings with Pakistani intelligence officials, that neither is Ajmal Kasab a Pakistani citizen nor have Pakistani agencies any involvement in the Mumbai attacks," a US embassy official told IslamOnlne.net. The confirmation came after an FBI team visited Faridkot, a small village some 200 kilometers south of Lahore, said to be of Kasab, the only surviving gunman. "A five-member FBI team, headed by William Robert, the agency's director for South Asia, visited Faridkot two days back," according to a US embassy source. At least 172 people were killed when ten gunmen attacked two five-star hotels, a hospital, a popular cafe, a railway station, and a Jewish center in Mumbai last month. India claims Kasab and the other nine attackers are all Pakistanis and blame the attack on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT), an outlawed Pakistani group fighting Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has denied that FBI agents have visited Faridkot. "No such visit is in my knowledge." But the report was confirmed by a senior Pakistani interior ministry official. "The FBI has established this fact after visiting Faridkot, which is being reported by Indian media as the ancestral town of Ajmal Kasab, and meeting various officials of Pakistani intelligence agencies," he told IOL on condition of anonymity. Indian "Proofs" US embassy sources said the FBI team has been trying to verify Indian "proofs" about Pakistani involvement in the attacks. The agents visited India before coming to Pakistan and questioned Kasab for more than nine hours. Indian media reports said the FBI sleuths sought minor details about Kasab’s native village and about his alleged links to the Pakistani intelligence. The team also took DNA samples of the nine slain gunmen to ascertain it matched with anyone in their data bank or had any relations with persons killed by US troops in Afghanistan. Despite concluding that Kasab was no Pakistani, the FBI team did not ruled out possible links between the Mumbai attackers and militants groups in Pakistan. "He might have connections with Pakistan-based militant groups," said the US embassy official, referring to the LeT. Pakistan has recently banned the Jammat-ul-Dawa (JD), one of the country's latest charity organizations, over alleged links to LeT. Founded by Hafiz Saeed, a former professor of Islamic studies at University of Engineering Lahore, JD operates hospitals, schools and relief centers across Pakistan. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1230650222380&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask a question on any topic and get answers from real people. Go to Yahoo! Answers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.10.2/1871 - Release Date: 1/1/2009 5:01 PM