During and immediately after the 2008 Mumbai attacks the news media worldwide broadcast incorrect factual information on a scale often seen in a fog of war.
Actions to clear the city of the terrorists by the authorities lasted for three days; the final gunman was killed at the Taj Mahal Hotel on 29 November.
Similarly, many news outlets carried opinions and unattributed theories, both during and immediately after the attacks, which also caused confusion.
[3] A group claiming to be Indian made contact with news media, but the language used by them caused confusion over their actual origins.
[9][10][11][12][13] The Internet connection from which the e-mail was originally sent was reportedly traced to Russia, and was considered, for this reason, likely to be bogus by some intelligence experts such as B Raman, who spoke to NewsX.
[14] Further analysis, however, determined that the Russian e-mail address was registered to a computer user located in Pakistan,[15] and routed through Lahore.
[23] Two of the terrorists involved in the attack, Shadullah and Imran Babar, called India TV twice during the siege on Thursday, 27 November, using cellphones they had taken from their hostages.
It further cited unnamed analysts who ruled out direct connection with Hyderabad citizens or a home-grown Indian organisation since "the attacks bear the stamp of a high motivated and trained foreign agency.
[31] When Batla House was raided, Delhi police claimed that there was a conspiracy between Indian Mujahideen, the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), and Lashkar-e-Taiba (see below).
"[38] As early as 27 November, published reports contained suggestions by analysts that a connection might exist between the attacks and the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) organisation, even as others questioned whether "Deccan Mujahideen" could be an Indian-based "home-grown militancy".
Azhar was described as "a suspected terrorist freed from prison in India in exchange for the release of hostages aboard a hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft in December 1999.
Maloy Krishna Dhar, former joint director of India's intelligence bureau, stated, "I distinctly see the hand of Dawood Ibrahim's gang, in the knowledge of Mumbai we witnessed.
[43][44][45] As events unfolded on 27 November, direct or indirect involvement by Al Qaeda could not be ruled out by Indian and British officials, although they noted that "the assault is not typical of the group, which generally favors suicide bombings.
"[46] On 29 November, unnamed Indian and American intelligence sources reported increasing evidence for an indirect connection to Al Qaeda through Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
[56] The ISI has been suspected of providing support to LeT or JeM in the past,[57] and it has been suggested that "the equipment, training and sophistication of [the planning of the Mumbai attacks] would tend to indicate a Pakistani link.
[51] These news reports asserted that two active-duty Pakistani army corps commanders may have provided equipment and training for up to "70-odd terrorists tasked with the Mumbai operations."
[61] Increasing strains between the civil and military leadership of the Pakistani government was widely noted in the days following the Mumbai attack.
[63] Indians possibly or allegedly involved in international terrorist networks include: Abdul Bari, a Hyderabad resident and possible financier of Indian Mujahideen (IM) operations; CAM Basheer, a leader of SIMI in the late 1980s, an aeronautical engineer and allegedly trained in LeT camps; Dawood Ibrahim, who has possibly aided smuggling or provided other logistical support and is wanted in connection with the Mumbai bombings of 1993;[41] Amir Raza Khan, who has allegedly helped to create Indian Mujahideen and is believed to be responsible for the 13 September 2008 Delhi bombings; and Riyaz Bhatkal, possibly also known as "Shahrukh", and allegedly instrumental in the creation of Indian Mujahideen.
Some of these directly implicated the government of Pakistan in the attack, its military and the Pakistani ISI intelligence agency, in collaboration with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) organisation.
[66] There is no doubt the terrorist attacks in Mumbai were perpetrated by individuals who came from Pakistan and whose controllers are in Pakistan.Given the sophistication and military precision of the attack, it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan.Many reports confirmed that the terrorists had been trained, supported and directly sent by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an organisation which was originally established by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate.
This postulated the existence of a long-term plan to attack Mumbai, and was based upon the evidence of an operative, Faheen Ahmed Ansari, who was arrested in February 2008.
[42] According to reports on 30 November 2008, the captured terrorist Azam Amir Kasab gave the names and addresses of five Mumbai residents who provided assistance to the operation.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria cautioned that it would be premature to comment on suspects and specifics at that time.
[59] On 2 December, Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor said "there was no evidence of local support involved in the recent terror attacks in the city.
[74] Reports of the involvement of the Alpha were incorrect; it turned out to be a Vietnamese ship, en route to Alang for scrapping, with no connection to the attacks.
[75][76] The captain of the fishing trawler Kuber was found beheaded aboard his ship and the rest of the crew missing and it was confirmed that this was the vessel that had been used.
Cama hospital workers and shopkeepers claimed that an unarmed burqa-clad woman, who wore a salwar kameez underneath, shopped for food supplies and knocked on doors with Azam Amir as he fired his weapon at the Cama hospital employee quarters at the beginning of the attacks on the evening of 26 November 2008.
[77] On 2 December, Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor was reported to say that "he was not sure about the involvement of any female terrorist",[72] and the status of this unidentified woman remains unknown.