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'Holy warriors' behind attacks
Amar Singh27 Nov 2008
A GROUP calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the Mumbai attacks in emails to the media.
Analysts said that while it is not clear whether the claim is genuine, the attacks were most likely carried out by the Indian Mujahideen.
Deccan refers to a southern Indian plateau and Mujahideen is a Muslim term for "holy warriors", so the attackers could be from this area.
Indian police say the Indian Mujahideen is an off-shoot of the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India. This group has been blamed for almost every major bomb attack in India, including explosions on Mumbai commuter trains two years ago that killed 187.
In an email to the media in September, the group denounced Mumbai's police anti-terrorist squad, accusing it of harassing Muslims.
"If this is the degree your arrogance has reached then let the Indian Mujahideen warn all the people of Mumbai that whatever deadly attacks Mumbaikars (residents of the city) will face in future, their responsibility would lie with the Mumbai ATS and their guardians," it said.
Experts also said the use of such a large number of gunmen were the hallmarks of Kashmiri anti-India insurgents Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
Reader views (7)
These are brain washed people. There are more than 1 billion people who are muslims. If islam promoted extremist ideas then we would have seen these a lot ago. But islam doesn't enourage anything even close to extremism but it teaches the opposite. The recent surge in extremism is due to the fact that people are moving away from islam and allowing themselves to be fed with ideas that are disguised as islamic but in fact they are not.
- Abdullah Munawar, london, UK, 27/11/2008 19:08
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Alan Rex.So you have read the quran and the bible,if that is the case you would know that what Chris Williams states is true,you would also know that believers of both faiths are charged to promote those beliefs,Islam especially by violent means hence the words martyrs for Islam and the encouragement by means of the use of 77 virgins etc.Your right about one thing yes thay are murderers,but thay are doing murder in the name of Islam and Islam is a religion not a political party.If you were right we would have heard condemnation from the Muslim council of Britain to the events in mumbai and also in regards to the events of 7.11,but thay remained silent,i wonder why.
- Kev, London, 27/11/2008 18:59
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Alan Rex - spot on, exactly right. Religion is a convenient tool to gain power and support in this context.
- H, London, 27/11/2008 18:08
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Len, asking mainstream clerics to stop these poeple is like asking the Archbishop of Canterbury to stop bush and Blair to fight wars in other countries. Such a comment is naive and unhelpful. These murderers dont represent their religion anymore than the rapists in the US army (in the iraqi prison) represent the US army.
As for Chris Williams, thats crazy. I've heard comments like this before. I've read both the Bible and the Koran and convinced the advent of online and email only encourages ignorance.
These people are murderers with a political agenda. Their vehicle is religion, but we shouldnt ban all vehicles as a response.
- Alan Rex, london, england, 27/11/2008 17:10
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It ain't holy that's for sure. These people aren't warriors. This is Islam my friends. The Islamic religious ideology permits such things in the furtherance of Islams cause. No-one admits it but it's true. Lying, bombing and murder are permissible as long as it's done to take Islam nearer to it's political goal - domination of nations. Just do your homework - read history, current affairs and the future claims of Islam 'Today your country, tomorrow ours'. Their words not mine.
- Chris Williams, Bridgend UK, 27/11/2008 14:47
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Len i agree totally.The British government welcomes them in this country with open arms,and then thay wonder why people are flocking to vote for the British national party.Religion has never brought peace and tolerance to any country and history proves that.
- Kev, London, 27/11/2008 13:15
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Amar Singh there ain't no such thing as a "holy warriors" whether you or anyone else is saying it. There are only religious and non religious people and some of them also murderers. The time is long passed when leaders of the islamic religion and islamic countries generally should be asked some awkward questions like, "What exactly are you doing to control and stop the cowardly islamic fundamentalist terrorists from carrying out these mass murders"? Militant islamic clerics are preaching "death and destruction to the infidels" and generally we are sitting by and doing nothing about it.
- Len, Perth, Australia, 27/11/2008 10:24
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