E-Paper
FBI helping India gather evidence
US Attorney General Michael Mukasey says FBI agents are working with Indian police to provide assistance and gather evidence about the Mumbai terror attacks.
US Attorney General Michael Mukasey says FBI agents are working with Indian police to provide assistance and gather evidence about the Mumbai terror attacks, but would not confirm whether FBI is also working with Pakistan.
He didn’t know the nature of the request from the Indian government, but “the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is looking into any evidence it can get,” Mukasey told reporters at the Justice Department on Wednesday.
Asked if the US agency charged with tracking from international and domestic terrorists to spies on US soil was also working with the Pakistani government on the Mumbai attacks, he said: “I can’t comment on that.”
Mukasey also declined comment on if there was any indication that the people involved in the Mumbai attack had any contact with people in the US or if Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), a Pakistan-based terrorist group that is prime suspect, “is planning attacks on Indian allies or outside of India.”
Asked if the US had any intelligence or any other indication about the attack, the top US law officer said: “I can’t comment on that.”
Asked about the lessons learned from what happened in India, Mukasey cited the need to get the best intelligence possible about where attacks might occur and to increase security appropriately. “It’s obviously a horrible incident, a horrific incident, nothing we ever want to see happen here.”
“And to the extent it’s an object lesson, it’s an object lesson in maintaining vigilance and in the need for surveillance, electronic surveillance and other kinds of surveillance and the need for protection,” he said.
