Mumbai Mayhem: Al-Qaeda leader warns India of more attacks

Hasan Suroor: The Hindu 11 Feb 2009
“Don’t try to harm Pakistan. The Mujahideen will sunder your armies into the ground”.
Pakistani military had said he might have been killed in a tribal region.
LONDON: A senior Al-Qaeda leader has threatened India with more Mumbai- style terror bombings if it attacks Pakistan, the BBC reported on Tuesday. He is thought to have been killed by the Pakistani military last summer. In a video message, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, believed to be Al-Qaeda’s military commander in Afghanistan, warned India that it would pay a “heavy price” if it tried to harm Pakistan.

“India’s humiliation”
Referring to what he called “India’s humiliation” over the Mumbai attacks, he said: “India should know that it will have to pay a heavy price if it attacks Pakistan. The Mujahideen will sunder your armies into the ground, like they did to the Russians in Afghanistan.” He also reportedly called on the people of Pakistan to rise up and overthrow the government and its President.

Brain behind attacks
Yazid is said to have been involved in a number of terror attacks in Pakistan, including last year’s Danish Embassy bombings in Islamabad and the assassination of the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, in December 2007. Last August, the Pakistani military claimed that he might have been killed in fighting in the Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The BBC said he was last heard in August 2008 when he confirmed the death of Al-Qaeda chemical-weapons expert, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar. But according to the U.S.-based Long War Journal, which specialises in terror issues, Yazid has “appeared in at least four other Al-Qaeda propaganda tapes” since last August.

We can handle any threat: Antony- Thiruvananthapuram Special Correspondent reports:
Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in Thiruvananthapuram that India had the full capability to handle any threat to its national security. From whichever quarter was the threat, the Indian armed forces were fully equipped to deal with it. Mr. Antony was responding to questions from journalists about the reported Al-Qaeda’s threat to India. He, however, said that he had not come across the report about the warning, telecast by various channels on Tuesday. “Developments in the neighbourhood are not good. We have to be in full preparedness and we are,” the Minister said.
Al-Qaeda leader warns India of more attacks

Comment: Taliban, LTTE, The Mujahideen and Al Qaeda- This is a formidable enemy. To dismiss it as a bunch of 'cowards' perpetuating 'senseless acts of violence' is complacent nonsense. People willing to kill thousands of innocents while they kill themselves are not cowards. They are deadly vicious warriors and need to be treated as such.” ~ Charles Krauthammer quote

Contrast Planet Earth: Sunita Williams said that the earth is a borderless unit, and experiencing it could alter people perceptual knowledge. “When you are in space, what hits you is the futility of drawing maps and marking boundaries. This also helps you understand there are no barriers like different nations as outside the Earth our identity is that of a human.”
Slideshow of Planet Earth- One sees no national boundaries