JERUSALEM (JTA) — The only Mumbai terrorist caught alive told an Indian newspaper that he and his colleagues were sent to target Israelis.
Azam Amir Kasab, a Pakistani, told Indian police that the terrorists targeted Nariman House, where the Chabad center was located, because it was frequented by Israelis, The Times of India reported Sunday. Israelis were targeted to "avenge atrocities on Palestinians," the paper reported Kasab as saying.
The Times also quoted a source as saying that some of the terrorists killed in the operation had earlier rented rooms at the Nariman House, identifying themselves as Malaysian students, in order to study the building.
"There is no doubt that these attacks were designed, inter alia, to intentionally harm such Jewish institutions," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet Sunday. "The government of Israel is doing, and will continue to do, everywhere, what needs to be done to protect Jewish institutions insofar as the matter depends on us and is possible, in the very special circumstances related to events of this kind."
