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The man behind the Mumbai terror attacks

By Vicky Nanjappa
December 31, 2008 15:22 IST
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The ten terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, kept in touch with their leader or minder through satellite phones, and acted as per his instructions. The minder had only one instruction for the terrorists -- kill as many people as possible. 

Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist arrested in the Mumbai terror attack, has revealed that the minder of the Mumbai attacks was a man named Muzzamil, the second-in-command of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

Kasab told his interrogators that the ten terrorists who launched the terror strike on Mumbai were instructed to keep in touch with Muzzamil and give him regular updates through their satellite phones. 

Muzzamil, a key LeT operative, played the most crucial role in planning the terror  attack.

Sabahuddin and Fahim Ansari, the accused in the Central Reserve Police Force attack case, also admitted that they reported the results of their recce of Mumbai to Muzzamil.

According to Intelligence Bureau sources, the calls made by the terrorists on their satellite phones have been traced back to Muzzafarabad, where Muzzamil was located.

Muzzamil is also in charge of the Pakistan module of the LeT. He is the key operative coordinating between the modules in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Muzzamil also supervises the operations of the Harkat-ul-Jihadi, the Bangladesh based sister concern of the LeT.

Kasab revealed that the attack had been planned for over a year. "Initially, we were not told when we would have to carry out the attack, but we were asked to be ready for it. Exactly a month before the attack, we were called by LeT commander Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi and Muzzamil and told to get ready, as the attack would be carried out within the next 30 days. The time for Jihad has come, they told us," he reportedly told interrogators.

"We were asked to set out for Mumbai four days before the attack. There were no specific instructions about who we had to kill. We were told to kill as many people as possible. During the operation, we interacted only with Muzzamil, who instructed us to go on killing people as long as we were alive," revealed Kasab.

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Vicky Nanjappa