Attacks anniversary draws solemn tributes, pressure on Pakistan

MUMBAI: Divya Salaskar, daughter of slain Indian policeman Vijay Salaskar, pays respects at the Police Memorial, during an event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai militant attacks. —AFP

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has urged Pakistan to take action against those responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks as Washington offered a new reward of $5 million for helping secure their capture. The announcement came on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the assault, which left 166 people dead and hundreds injured after Islamist militants from Pakistan unleashed a wave of violence across India's financial capital lasting three days. "It is an affront to the families of the victims that, after ten years, those who planned the Mumbai attack have still not been convicted for their involvement," Pompeo said in a statement.

"We call upon all countries, particularly Pakistan, to uphold their UN Security Council obligations to implement sanctions against the terrorists responsible for this atrocity, including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and its affiliates." "We stand with the families and friends of the victims, whose loved ones were lost in this act of barbarism, including six American citizens," he added. The Department of State's Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Program meanwhile said it was offering up to $5 million "for information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual who committed, conspired to commit, or aided or abetted" the execution of the attack.

It is the third such reward offered by the US after the State Department announced bounties of $10 million for Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and $2 million for Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, another senior leader of the group. Saeed, who is also designated a terrorist by the United Nations, has denied involvement in terrorism and the Mumbai attacks. A party linked to the charitable wing of the LeT contested Pakistan's national elections in July, failing to win any seats but winning more than 435,000 national and regional votes.

Solemn tributes

India marked the 10th anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks yesterday with ceremonies at sites across the city that became battlegrounds in the wave of violence that killed scores and dealt a critical blow to relations with neighboring Pakistan. Armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, 10 Islamic militants killed 166 people and injured hundreds more in a three-day rampage through India's financial capital which started on Wednesday November 26, 2008.

A decade on, the United States offered a new $5 million reward for the capture of the remaining attackers and called on Islamabad to cooperate with the hunt for the planners of the assault. The attackers belonged to Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). At a solemn ceremony Mumbai's police remembered more than a dozen officers and commandos killed in the operation against the militants. Relatives of the victims and local dignitaries laid wreaths and sprinkled rose petals at a police memorial honoring the dead while the force's brass band played the "Last Post".

"A grateful nation bows to our brave police and security forces who valiantly fought the terrorists during the Mumbai attacks," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called the attacks "gruesome". Played out on TV news channels around the world, the bloody events-widely known as 26/11 - have been compared in India to New York's suffering on September 11, 2001. The co-ordinated attacks on the city of nearly 20 million people hit luxury hotels, the main railway station, a restaurant popular with tourists and a Jewish centre.

Wanted leader

Residents and railway officials also paid their respects at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station where Mohammed Kasab, the only gunman caught alive, and another attacker killed almost 60 people and wounded at least 100 others. The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel held a private service to remember the 31 people who died there. Over 60 hours, four attackers shot dead guests and hotel staff, detonated explosives and set ablaze parts of the building-including its famous dome.

Dramatic scenes of Indian commandos battling the heavily armed gunmen, and guests tried to escape from windows down bedsheet ropes were beamed around the world on live television. Indian security forces only retook control of the hotel on the morning of November 29. More than 30 people also died at the Oberoi and Trident hotels in a 42-hour siege involving shootings, explosions and hostage-taking.

Six hostages-including a rabbi and his pregnant wife-were killed at Nariman House, a Jewish cultural and religious centre. The current rabbi, Israel Kozlovsky, unveiled a new memorial listing the names of all those who died in the 26/11 attacks. "Those who gave their life for the country, those who gave their life for us, they deserve to be remembered and they deserve to get their honor and tribute," he said. Kasab, the gunman caught at the railway station, was executed by India in 2012 after being found guilty of charges including murder and waging war against India. - Agencies