'Mumbai attacks partly hatched in US'

A western media report has claimed that the last year's terror attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai were partly planned in the US.

Gunmen behind Mumbai raids used cell phones that were activated in the US and paid for with funds sent from Italy Corriere della Sera reported Tuesday.

The revelation comes after New Delhi sent the intelligence information to some Western countries so investigators could expose any ties to the network behind the November raids.

The Italian daily said that the Italian security forces were also investigating a wire transfer sent to the US from the northern Italian city of Brescia.

The message was sent by a Pakistani- suspect, named as Javaid Iqbal. Iqbal also sent the funds via Western Union to pay for five cell phones with Austrian country codes.

But the cell phones were activated in the US by an American company and registered to an Indian citizen, it said.

Based on the report, at least three of these phones were used by the militants during the Mumbai siege.

"Everything is being registered by the media. You must inflict the maximum damage. Fight to the end. Don't leave any survivors," read one of the excerpts, in a call to an attacker at the Trident-Oberoi hotel.

India has highlighted the importance of cell phone communication between the plotters and militants carrying out the attacks.

Relations between Islamabad and New Delhi have worsened in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror raids, in which 179 people were killed including nine militants.

Washington and New Delhi have been maintaining that the Mumbai terror attack plan was hatched in Pakistan.

Following an investigation earlier this month, Pakistan's interior ministry admitted for the first time that the raids were partly hatched on its soil.

Islamabad, however, has denied any involvement by Pakistani state agencies and says it is building a case against Pakistani 'non-state actors' accused of involvement in the raids. Source

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