26/11 terrorists trained by Pak army, navy instructors: Report

LONDON: The ten terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks were among 500 men trained to "elite" commando standards by the Pakistani army and navy instructors and were directly supported by the ISI, a media report here said on Sunday.

The Indian intelligence have the names of the 26/11 terrorists' ISI trainers and handlers and have intercepted internet phone calls between them, The Sunday Times said.

Quoting sources close to the Indian intelligence, it claimed that another attack before next year's general election would make war inevitable between the two countries.

The Indian intelligence claimed the terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks were among a large group of volunteer "fidayeen" or suicide attackers trained in commando tactics by the Pakistan army and navy instructors over 18 months from December 2006.

"The training of these 500 men was in three phases. The first was basic physical fitness and firearms training. The second was marine navigation and swimming. The third involved training to sabotage underwater installations such as oil rigs, ships and submarines," one official was quoted as saying.

"They were trained to a level of US Seals or Pakistani marine commandos. They were elite. Ten of these men were the ones who attacked Mumbai."

If true, this training would have been in addition to later preparation said to have been given by Lashkar-e-Toiba, which is suspected to be behind the attacks. The militant group was created with ISI support in the 1990s to operate in Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir.