The Pakistan government finally agreed to the fact that elements in their country had a role in the Mumbai terror attacks.
Although Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed that the terror acts were carried out by “non-state actors”, intelligence inputs before the 26/11 Mumbai attacks had pointed a finger towards Pakistan’s notorious Inter-Services Intelligence.
An intelligence report by India’s Intelligence Bureau in December 2006 states that ISI, in cooperation with Pakistan Navy, is imparting navigational training to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists.
The report further states that the training is for 12 to 18 months and is divided into three phases. The first phase deals with learning swimming.
The second phase of the training involved tasks like handling large boats, laying of mines in coastal zones, and planting of explosives under dams, bridges, and ships among others.
In the third and final phase terrorists were being taught navigational techniques, rescue operations, surveillance methods, concealment of explosives and underwater attack on enemy’s coastal targets and vessels.
The most vital and worrying bit of information that the report reveals is that around 500-600 terrorists have already received this navigational training, and are already planning to infiltrate into Indian coastlines and island territories under the guise of fishermen.
Around two years after this intelligence report, ten terrorists struck in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.