Handlers on Phone Ordered Mumbai Gunmen to Kill

Roughly 24 hours after the attacks began, the handlers urged the gunmen to "be strong in the name of Allah."

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, right, and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, front left, attend a conference of Chief Ministers on internal security in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. (AP Photo)

(AP)

"Brother, you have to fight. This is a matter of prestige of Islam," the handler said. "You may feel tired or sleepy, but the commandos of Islam have left everything behind — their mothers, their fathers."

The gunmen were told several times not to kill any Muslim hostages.

The attackers used several mobile phones, including those belonging to the hostages. Shortly after the siege started, Indian authorities say they began intercepting calls from inside the hotel. They were also able to pick up calls carried over the Internet, which the handlers used to route some calls, according to the dossier.

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The siege in India's financial capital lasted nearly three days, far longer than security experts said it should have, and, apparently, far longer than the terrorists expected as well. The handlers told the gunmen on Nov. 27 that "the operation has to be concluded tomorrow morning." But it was 36 more hours before it finished.

The attacks against iconic Mumbai targets were covered by news channels worldwide, allowing the handlers to use TV reports to guide the gunmen, the dossier says. The handlers warned when commandos roped down to the Jewish center from helicopters.

The dossier also included photographs of dozens of items recovered in the attacks, including GPS units, mobile phones, guns, and explosives, as well as data gleaned from satellite phones, and details from the interrogation of the lone surviving gunman.

But the strongest — and most chilling — evidence that the gunmen were not acting alone came from the phone transcripts.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday that Pakistani authorities must have had a hand in the siege. Lashkar is widely believed to be a 1980s creation of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency to pressure India over the disputed area of Kashmir.