In what plaintiffs are calling the first of its kind, a lawsuit filed in U.S. court accuses Pakistan’s intelligence service of helping carry out the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. Five families of those injured or killed in the attacks claim officers in the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) assisted Lashkar-e Tayyiba, the terrorist group that murdered 166 people and wounded at least 304.

 

James Kreindler, the families’ attorney, told Courthouse News Service that the civil case is the first he knows of that directly accuses the ISI of playing a role in the attacks. “We’ve been looking at this for a while, and as more information has come out, it made it very clear that the ISI has been intimately involved in planning and supporting the terrorist acts,” Kreindler said.

 

The suit alleges that Lashkar-e Tayyiba continues to operate training camps in Pakistan, specifically at Muridke, Manshera and Muzaffarabad. It also states that David Headley, an American citizen who pleaded guilty in March 2010 to conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the attacks, was taking direct instructions from both Lashkar-e Tayyiba and members of the ISI, who are also accused of providing material support for the attacks.

 

On November 26, 2008, terrorists attacked several sites, including the Oberoi Trident Hotel and Chabad House. Among the victims were several Americans, including Gavriel Noah Holtzberg and his wife Rivka Holtzberg, whose families are parties to the lawsuit.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Mumbai Terror Victims’ Family Sues Pakistani Intelligence Agency (by Adam Klasfeld, Courthouse News Service)

Class Action Lawsuit (U.S. District Court, Eastern New York) (pdf)

Convicted Terrorist was on the DEA Payroll (by David Wallechinsky, AllGov)