Aag lagao: LeT to Mumbai killers

For a terror group that masterminded an atrocity of the scale of 26/11 and grabbed global attention, the Lashkar-e-Taiba handlers of
the Mumbai attackers directed their jihadi charges in a ruthlessly calm and calculated manner.

According to sources, details of Voice over Internet Protocol calls between the jihadis holed up in the Taj and Trident hotels and Nariman House and their Lashkar bosses in Pakistan provide a chilling account of the remorseless efficiency with which the massacre of innocents was choreographed.

Conversations between the terrorists and top Lashkar leaders, identified as Zarar Shah, Abu Hamza and Abu Qafa, is now a crucial part of the clinching evidence of Mumbai attacks being a handiwork of the ISI-backed Pakistani terror tanzim.

Though the Lashkar leaders used VoIP to mask their identity and the origin of calls, cooperation from foreign agencies, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, helped Indian investigators access the call details.

As the assailants went about their macabre business, their handlers, who were monitoring coverage of the action at the two hotels and the Jewish dwelling of Nariman House, asked the terrorists to keep watch on the points from where security personnel and commandos could come in. Talking in rustic Punjabi, the gang leaders asked them to lob grenades at advancing commandos and move to positions from which they could take shots at the challengers.

Terrorists were repeatedly exhorted to start fires. "Aag lagao, aag lagao" is the instruction that the terrorists were repeatedly given at all the three sites of attack from their bosses who, obviously, intended to maximise casualties.

The Pakistan-based leaders told their wards at Nariman House to kill the Israelis. The terrorists were also asked to spare Muslims in the two hotels -- a directive which conflicted with the task of indiscriminate firing assigned to Mohammad Ajmal Kasab and Ismail at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Cama Hospital and other places that led to the death of 39 Muslims.

The voice intercepts show the gang leaders remained not just calm, but even found time to engage in banter with their wards over the interview that one of them, Imran Babar, the terrorist at Nariman House, gave to an Indian channel. The handler sounded happy that Babar had used some English words. "Tum bhi dena chahte ho," he asked others.

The banter gave way to some seriousness after the arrival of commandos. "Fauj aa rahi hai, cover lo." But there was no display of panic, with the Lashkar commanders, confident that flushing out the terrorists was not going to be easy for the NSG jawans, asking them to eat khajoor, not to get tired and take turns to sleep. "Thakna nahin hai", was one of the instructions as the LeT leaders were clearly aware that the fidayeen squad was ready to die fighting.

One of the bosses did not seem perturbed or even concerned when told by a terrorist that he had been badly injured. "Aakhiri waqt aa gaya hai, namaaz ada karo", said the composed voice at the other end, according to sources. Invoking jihadi logic, the handler asked the wounded terrrorist -- "do you have a message to give"?