Britain investigating links to attacks
The British government is investigating whether some of the attackers in the deadly India shootings could be British citizens with links to Pakistan or the disputed territory of Kashmir, officials said Friday.
Indian Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said two British-born Pakistanis were among eight gunmen arrested by Indian authorities.
"There is so much information still to be discovered and made available," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters in response to the report. "I would not want to be drawn into early conclusions about this."
British security officials said none of the attackers' nationalities had been confirmed but authorities in India were checking the men's identity documents.
The group that claimed responsibility for the attacks, Deccan Mujahideen, was unknown to global security officials. The name suggested the group was Indian though some security officials have said it may be an offshoot of the Indian Mujahideen.
Britons with family ties to Pakistan, India and Kashmir have been involved in a host of attempted terrorist attacks in Britain since 2001.
Three of four British-born men who carried out the 2005 London transit network attacks, killing 52 commuters, had family ties to Pakistan. Indian-born Dhiren Barot was jailed in Britain in 2006 over plots to bomb the New York Stock Exchange, other US financial targets and landmark London hotels.
Barot, who was raised in the UK and regarded by British intelligence as a key Al-Qaida figure, traveled to Kashmir in 1995 to fight against Indian forces. The ongoing dispute over Kashmir has emerged as a recurrent theme in the radicalization of young British Muslims, commonly cited as a justification for their attacks.
British-born Parviz Khan, who was jailed for life over a 2007 plot to kidnap an unnamed British Muslim soldier and behead him, used fundraising for earthquake relief in Kashmir as a cover to collect funds for his plan.
"The issue of Kashmir clearly resonates in Britain," the British security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his work. "But we have yet to confirm yet whether any of the attackers were British or not."
Brown said he will discuss the situation with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later Friday. Singh blamed "external forces" for the attacks.
"Obviously when you have terrorists operating in one country they may be getting support from another country or coming from another country and it is very important that we strengthen the co-operation between India and Britain in dealing with these instances of terrorist attacks," Brown said.
Agencies
(China Daily 11/29/2008 page11)
