Indian Navy Official Not Ruling Out Somali Pirate Roll in Mumbai Attacks

An Indian Navy official is not ruling out that the Mumbai attacks were in retaliation for the Indian Navy's sinking of a Somali pirate boat earlier this week.

A top Indian naval official has said that he would not rule out the role of Somali pirates in the terror strikes in Mumbai in view of the
recent action by the Navy against the sea bandits in the Gulf of Aden.

Asked whether there can be any connection between the pirates and the attacks in Mumbai, Vice Admiral Sunil K Damle, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command, said such a thing cannot be ruled out.

"I cannot say but I will not rule it out. I cannot say whether there is connection or not. All I am saying is that we very strongly suspect such a thing can happen," he told reporters on board the INS Tir.

"It is a fact that our action against the Somali pirates in the recent past has got the Indian Navy into focus particularly in that area", he said, adding this also brought in a danger...Indian Navy being targeted by these people also in addition to the terrorists," he said.

"These bad elements unfortunately have a fair amount of illegal money at their disposal. Even if Somali pirates were not taking direct action against us, there is every possibility of them pumping in the money into such organisations which are capable of taking terrorist action against us", he said.

On reports that the attackers had sneaked in to Mumbai through sea routes, he said "we have already started investigating the vessels which are considered suspicious on the west coast, particularly in the vicinity of Mumbai".

He said the Navy has stepped up security not only as a result of what is happening in Mumbai. "We have already taken security measures because we feel they could be target of those who feel threatened by the naval action. We have tightened various kinds of security measures", he said.