Another 26/11 could mean Indo-Pak war: US Report

As the United States observes the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, a Washington-based research group on Saturday warned that a repeat of 26/11 strikes may lead to a "full-blown" Indo-Pak war.

As the United States observes the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, a Washington-based research group on Saturday warned that a repeat of 26/11 strikes may lead to a "full-blown" Indo-Pak war.

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Preventing Mumbai-II from occurring remains a major foreign policy challenge for the US, the report said.

"One of the more predictable foreign policy challenges of the next years is a 'Mumbai II': a large-scale attack on a major Indian city by a Pakistani militant group that kills hundreds," said the 42-page report from the Bipartisan Policy Centre's National Security Preparedness Group.

Authored by Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman, the report Assessing the Terrorist Threat appreciated the considerable restraint shown by India in its reaction to the provocation of the Mumbai attacks in 2008.

"Another such attack, however, would likely produce considerable political pressure on the Indian government to do something'. That something would likely involve incursions over the border to eliminate the training camps of Pakistani militant groups with histories of attacking India," the report said.

"That could lead in turn to a full-blown war between India and Pakistan," it said.