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US says militants may target India again
[Iran Press TV Latest] Pakistan-based militants are planning to target Indian cities in order to divert the Pakistani army's attention from fighting against the Taliban, the US says. Bruce Riedel, an administration aide and retired CIA expert, said in an interview on Sunday that Pakistan-based militants are planning to target major cities across India. "There is a serious risk of another Mumbai-style attack, which would ratchet up tensions and make the Pakistani army even more determined to keep 80% of its manpower focused on India rather than on the threat posed by the internal jihadist problem," Riedel claimed. Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors have sunk to a new low after militants, allegedly belonging to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group, attacked several areas across the Indian port city of Mumbai in November 2008. At least 179 people, including nine militants, were killed and hundreds of others were injured in the incident. Pakistan then begun moving thousands of troops away from the border with Afghanistan, and shifted them to the Indian border in the wake of rising tensions between the two neighbors over the issue. Pakistan's President, Asif Ali Zardari, has emphasized that terrorists inside the country, and not India, pose a threat to Pakistan. Posted by: Fred 2009-05-11 |
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