5 Terrorists Attack Indian Parliment Building

[Manu]

Intensified security puts the city of New Delhi on edge for hours afterwards

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India has pledged to crush terrorism after a daring suicide attack on parliament that put the country in a state of high alert.

A fierce shootout lasting more than 30 minutes came just after lawmakers adjourned inside the New Delhi building. No group has claimed responsibility for the assault, which left 12 people dead.

A spokesperson in the office of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told CNN the invaders broke through parliament's outer security in a white government vehicle just before noon Thursday.

Once inside, two reportedly detonated explosives strapped to their bodies. One intruder threw a hand grenade at an entrance used by members of parliament. Another lobbed a grenade at the entrance used by the prime minister.

The region is tense because of the Afghanistan situation and continuing terrorist activities in the northern state of Kashmir, which India blames on its nuclear neighbor, Pakistan.

Within hours, Vajpayee went on national television and vowed to crush terrorism.

"We will repulse each of their attacks," Vajpayee said. "For the past two decades, we have been fighting terrorism, now the battle has reached its final phase."

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf quickly condemned the attack and offered sympathy. The United States and Britain made similar responses.

Kashmir's main separatist alliance also condemned the killings. "We have no connection with the attack on Indian parliament," said a statement issued by the Muthida Jihad Council alliance in Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistan-ruled part of Kashmir.

Vajpayee heard about the attack as he was being driven towards the parliament. He immediately returned home.

In the assault, five gunmen were killed. Seven guards also died and about 15 other people were injured.


Parliament was in session when the attack came at 11.45a.m. local time
Just two months ago, a similar attack on the assembly in Kashmir left 38 people dead and the fresh attack was being condemned as a "lapse in security" given that recent precedent.

When explosions and automatic gunfire rang out, dozens of Indian soldiers and commandos took up positions around and inside the parliament complex.

Parliament had just adjourned when the attack was launched, and it was not clear precisely how many MPs were in the building.

The attack began at 11:45 a.m. local time (0615 GMT) with a heavy exchange of fire and loud explosions. Most of the gunfire and explosions occurred just outside gate 12 of the parliament.

Eyewitnesses told CNN that they saw people with bullet injuries and local television showed the wounded being put into ambulances.

The gunmen did not reach the parliament building.

CNN's Satinder Bindra said dozens of elite Indian commandos and soldiers were deployed along with armed guards and police.

He said no one was being allowed to enter or leave parliament. About 300 people, including approximately 100 MPs, remained inside.

Both the upper and lower houses of Parliament are expected to convene Friday to "condemn terrorism."

The main Mumbai stock index fell 3 percent on news of the attack before recovering.

www.cnn.com

[Fordman50]

I heard on the news that there was yet another attack! Are they muslims?

[Manu]

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India says a Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, is responsible for Thursday's bloody suicide attack on India's parliament.

Citing "technical evidence", India's Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said the militant group was behind the attack that left 12 people dead during the 50-minute gunbattle.

"India has technical evidence that yesterday's terrorist attacks ...on the seat of Indian democracy and the sovereignty of the Indian people was the handiwork of a terrorist organization based in Pakistan -- Lashkar-e-Taiba," Singh told reporters.

However, the militant group which is fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir, rejected the accusation.

"This is a lie and baseless," Yahya Mujahid. a spokesman for Lashkar-e-Taiba, told Reuters news service.

"This is drama staged by Indian intelligence agencies in collusion with the Indian government to have the jihadi [militant] groups and Pakistan declared as terrorists," he said.

Singh declined to elaborate or give the evidence to the media but said India had been consulting other countries, including the U.S., about the evidence.

No group has claimed responsibility for the raid that began just before noon Thursday when five gunmen -- armed with AK-47s and explosives -- broke through parliament's outer security in a white government vehicle.

Six security guards and a gardener were killed in the raid as well as the five intruders.

The incident outraged Indians and several protests occurred on the streets of New Delhi on Friday.

India's neighbor Pakistan joined a group of countries condemning the attack.

Demands
However, Singh said that Pakistan's High Commissioner to India was called in to the Ministry of External Affairs to receive three demands from the Indian government.

Singh said he had requested that:

-- Pakistan halt activities of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group and also another Islamic militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed,

-- That the leaders of the groups be taken into custody,

-- and, funds of the groups be frozen immediately.

Singh said India made the demands under the confidence of international guidelines to curb terrorism.

Action

Security has been on high alert throughout India
Asked what action India intends to take, Singh said, "India has said what it has to say through the voice of the statement of the Cabinet."

On Thursday, the Cabinet issued a pledge to crush terrorism.

"We will liquidate the terrorists and their sponsors, wherever they are, whoever they are," the statement said.

The two groups are among several fighting for a Kashmir independent of India.

Roughly two-thirds of Kashmir is administered by India, the rest by Pakistan. Both claim the entire region and have fought two of their three wars over it.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed group is accused by India of carrying out a suicide bombing attack against the Jammu-Kashmir state legislature on October which killed 38 people.

www.cnn.com

[Snouter]

'Human bomb' detonates near Geelong Australia

A man was killed after strapping explosives to his body near a train station outside Geelong this morning. Police cordoned off the area around the Lara railway station, near Geelong, after four explosions were heard by a nearby resident shortly after 6.15am (AEDT).

A spokeswoman for Rural Ambulance Victoria confirmed the man had died. "The paramedics on the scene were unable to get to the man, the bomb squad confirmed the man had died," the spokeswoman told AAP.

Police spokesman Kevin Loomes said the man, believed to aged in his 30s, was found lying near the railway tracks in a critical condition. He said earlier reports that shots had been fired were likely to be the noise from the explosives detonating.

Mr Loomes said the man had not been a threat to anyone because of his condition and no motive had been established.

The air ambulance was called in but its crew was unable to treat the man until the police Special Operations Group had secured the area. Mr Loomes said the nearest building to the incident was an RSL club, which is in a non-residential area.

About 200 people were standing outside the station about 150 metres away, he said. A spokesman for West Coast Railway said trains were not running on the Melbourne to Geelong line and passengers were being transported by bus.

AAP

[Manu]

That is distrubing...

Imagine a human bomb getting on the subway in a NY station, or anywhere...