http://www.boston.com/news/daily/13/india_attack.htm

Suicide squad attacks Indian parliament, 11 dead

By Sanjeev Miglani, Reuters, 12/13/01

NEW DELHI, Dec 13 -- A suicide squad killed six people in India's parliament complex on Thursday in an unprecedented attack on the seat of power of the world's biggest democracy.

A suicide bomber, who detonated explosives strapped to his waist, and four gunmen died in the attack and a resulting gunbattle with police.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though initial speculation turned to Islamic militants fighting against Indian rule in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where 38 people died in a suicide attack on the state assembly two months ago.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said India's battle against terrorism had reached its final stage, while Defence Minister George Fernandes promised a "hard-hitting" response.

Witnesses said five people, one the suicide bomber, stormed the complex, killing six people. The suicide bomber died when his bomb exploded and the other attackers died in a battle with police.

"I heard a cracker-like sound near the entrance, then I saw people running helter-skelter," lawmaker Kharbala Sain told Reuters outside the grand sandstone parliamentary complex.

"I saw many people firing at the same time. I couldn't make out who was who. I couldn't understand who the terrorists were and who the police were. My mind went blank."

Indian legislators called for retaliation of the kind taken by the United States in Afghanistan after the September 11 suicide attacks on New York or Washington or by Israel against the Palestinians after suicide bombings.

India's nuclear rival and neighbour Pakistan, accused by India of backing separatist rebels in Kashmir, denounced the attack.

The United States condemned the attack as an "outrageous act of terrorism."

Witnesses said five attackers stormed through the complex firing automatic weapons and hurling grenades about 11:45 a.m. (0615 GMT), soon after both houses of parliament adjourned.

Gunshots were heard for about an hour. Doctors at a nearby hospital said at least five guards and a worker were killed.

Vajpayee had not yet arrived when the shooting started. He later gave a televised address to the nation, reassuring the people of India that the government would fight back.

"This was not just an attack on the building, it was a warning to the entire nation," he said.

"For the past two decades, we have been fighting terrorism, now the battle has reached its final phase," he said. "The fight has now reached a decisive stage."

TROOPS DEPLOYED AROUND CAPITAL

Star News said the heavily armed attackers drove into the parliamentary grounds in a vehicle with a fake pass.

One deputy said she had been told by police that the vehicle, laden with explosives, was still inside the complex. Renuka Chowdhary told Reuters police were detonating the explosives.

Hundreds of troops in full battle gear took up positions around the parliament, sealing off the area as security forces throughout Delhi and around the nation were put on red alert.

Soldiers were deployed outside Vajpayee's office and residence as well as key government buildings in the capital, while trucks carrying soldiers moved in and out of the army headquarters in New Delhi.

Political analysts said if Thursday's raid was by Kashmir separatists, India could launch a counter-attack across the Line of Control into Pakistani-held territory, raising the risk of a dangerous confrontation between the nuclear-capable neighbours.

Highlighting that risk, Fernandes told Star News that India must give a hard-hitting response. "This problem (terrorism) has crossed the limit and we have to solve it," he said.

New Delhi has long accused Pakistan of arming and funding Islamic militants fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir, its only Muslim-majority state. Islamabad denies the charge. Some members of parliament did not even want to wait for a claim of responsibility to be made before demanding action.

"Where is the doubt? What is there to prove," asked Raghubir Singh, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"The government should do what America has done in Afghanistan and what Israel is doing in Palestine. The government should not shy away from attacking Pakistan, if involvement is proved," Srichand Kripalani, also from the BJP, told Reuters.

In Islamabad, a foreign ministry spokesman said that Pakistan, which has rallied to President George W. Bush's war on global terrorism, strongly and unequivocally condemned the attack.

India is racked by separatist and communal violence, but this is the first time such an attack has been launched on the heavily guarded parliamentary complex.

Sikh separatists assassinated prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. A suicide bomber killed her son, Rajiv Gandhi, who also served as a prime minister, in 1991.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2001

Answers

Odd that they didn't have security beefed up after all that has happened since September.

Maybe they were debating what to do next?

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2001