US mobilised spl forces to neutralise LeT terrorists: Former official on 26/11
The then Bush administration had mobilised special forces to neutralise Pakistanbased Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists holding people hostage in hotels during the deadly Mumbai terror attack in November 2008, a former White House official has revealed.
But, before the Indian authorities gave the necessary clearances and the special forces could take off for Mumbai from an overseas regional location, Indian commandos had already completed their job, said Anish Goel, who was part of the White House's 26/11 crisis management group.
"I'm a bit hazy on the details now. It's 10 years out. But, we were offering to send like commando teams to Mumbai to infiltrate the hotels and root out the terrorist cells that were there," Goel, the director of South Asia in the National Security Council of the White House at the time of the 26/11 attack, said.
Some 166 people, including Americans, were killed in the attack carried out by 10 LeT terrorists. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was captured and hanged after handed down death sentence by an Indian court.
Recalling the developments at the White House during the 2008 Thanksgiving weekend, when LeT terrorists went on a rampage in Mumbai for several days, Goel said the US had "some (special forces) teams in the region that we're willing to deploy quickly".