Mumbai Attackers were being remote controlled by satellite phone

The Mumbai Attackers were being remote controlled by satellite phone according to the transcripts of intercepted calls posted in the article below. These attackers are thought to be a splinter of the Muslim group Lashkar-e-Taiba. It is unclear, but the calls may have been coming from Pakistan. The terrorists were instructed to "Kill the hostages" and "leave the phones on" so the handlers could hear the gunfire. So much for the religion of peace.

Transcript: Mumbai gunmen were commanded by phone
Wednesday, January 7, 2009

NEW DELHI - "We have three foreigners, including women," the gunman said into the phone. The response was brutally simple: "Kill them." Gunshots then rang out inside the Mumbai hotel, followed by cheering that could be heard over the phone.

The ruthless exchange comes from a transcript of phone calls Indian authorities say they intercepted during the November Mumbai attacks. They were part of a dossier of evidence New Delhi handed Pakistan this week that it says definitively proves that the siege was launched from across the border.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday that he did not believe the gunmen were acting alone, and Pakistani state agencies must have had a hand in the attacks.

The dossier made no mention of any Pakistani officials or agencies.

Pakistani authorities are reviewing the evidence, but have dismissed Singh's claims as "a propaganda offensive" designed "to whip up tensions" in the region.

Indian leaders have made clear they do not want a military conflict with Pakistan, and Pakistan's intelligence chief said there will be no war over the Mumbai attacks.

"We may be crazy in Pakistan, but not completely out of our minds," Pakistan's intelligence chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, told German news magazine Der Spiegel. "We know full well that terror is our enemy, not India." Link here.

There is also a very good article in the NY Times about the Dossier that India has given Pakistan. Read that article here.