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| Afghanistan |
| Afghan secret service alerted India on terror cell |
| 2008-07-17 |
| Afghanistan's secret service, the Riyast-e-Amniyat-i-Milli, provided precision intelligence on the jihadist cell which executed last week's bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, highly placed government sources have told The Hindu. RAM notified its Indian counterparts that an attack on the embassy in Kabul was imminent as early as June 23. Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence Directorate, it said, had instructed Afghanistan-based jihadists to execute an attack on the Indian mission. Based on the available intelligence, RAM said that it expected the terrorist cell to execute a fidayeen (suicide squad) attack, which would use explosives to breach defences at the front gate of the Indian embassy. RAM's head of diplomatic security, the sources said, spent three nights camped at the Embassy, working with his Indian counterparts to make sure effective counter-measures were put in place. As a result of the RAM warning, a new machine-gun post was set up above a shopping complex next to the Embassy to engage terrorists who managed to breach the gates. Police patrols around the perimeter were beefed up. Hesco barriers -- sandbag-like blocks made up of collapsible wire mesh and heavy duty fabric liner which are widely used in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military bases -- were fitted to make perimeter walls blast-resistant. India's Research and Analysis Wing corroborated the Afghan warning three days after RAM's report. Based on communications intelligence and informants' reports, RAW said the attack would most likely be carried out using a Toyota suburban utility vehicle. Less than a week before the bombing, United States military intelligence personnel monitoring terrorist communications in Afghanistan obtained new information on the attack. Plans to execute a fidayeen strike, they learned, had been dropped. Instead, a car-bomb was being prepared. Government sources said this last warning was accurate down to the last detail, even asserting that the vehicle would have Kabul licence plates. Investigators now believe an estimated 100 kg of military-grade plastic explosive was welded into the underside of the SUV, bearing licence plate number KBL 11827 SH -- enough to gouge a 2.5 metre diameter, 1 metre crater on the concrete-asphalt road and fling the vehicle's engine block, number 2L3240928, almost a 100 metres away. Had Hesco barriers not been installed around the Embassy, Indian security experts, who spoke to The Hindu,said the blast would have claimed the lives of at least two dozen personnel who were then working inside the building. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Given the level of cooperation, it almost goes without saying that India's Intell Service has a number of operatives working with the Afghan government. I guess you would say that they have a common enemy...the ISS. The Paks are playing a dangerous game. India is galloping ahead as a technology giant and has a far more robust economy. India has the resources and the animosity to conduct military operations in the trans Afghan border region. The fact that those idiots in Al Qaeda are trying to set up shop in India makes Indian involvement in Afghanistan all the more plausible and probable. It seems that when a nation that gets in bed with Bin Laden and his cronies, the social order and effectiveness of the central government crumbles. I predict that Pakistan will disintegrate into a series of tribal fiefdoms ruled by warlords much like Somolia if they do not get a grip on it and do something to preserve their sovereignty. |
| Posted by: James Carville 2008-07-17 10:36 |
| #2 I am fairly certain there are Indian operatives in Afghanistan, but that's just my opinion.... John Frum would know. |
| Posted by: sludge 2008-07-17 10:09 |
| #1 Three cheers for honest spooks! Here's hoping that India might return the favor and send a brigade or two to help the Afghans with their problem, at the same time getting in some high quality training--a bargain at the price. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-07-17 09:59 |