Osama had prior knowledge of Mumbai attacks

ISLAMABAD: Osama Bin Laden had ‘advance’ knowledge of the 2008 Mumbai attacks and he wanted to establish an al-Qaeda state in parts of Pakistan after the breakout of a possible war between India and Pakistan, claims a new book authored by a Pakistani journalist.
The book titled “The Secrets of Pakistan’s war on Al-Qaeda” written by Geo News senior correspondent Azaz Syed (his personal account) mentions a secret meeting between Bin Laden and Ilyas Kashmiri, an Al-Qaeda militant who had contacts in Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT).
The author claims that the meeting held in Haripur area of northern Pakistan in 2006-2007, discussed the possibility of a war between two south Asian nuclear-armed neighbours as a result of an imminent attack on Indian soil.
“Osama was thrilled to know about LeT’s plan to attack the Indian city of Mumbai. For long he had desired to set up his own state. A war between India and Pakistan would have materialized his dreams,” says the book.
The book claims that Al-Qaeda even managed to infiltrate the LeT and sent some of its own fighters among 10 militants who went to launch Mumbai attacks. “The state Osama envisaged stood on a broken Pakistan, comprising FATA, KPK, Islamabad and some parts of Punjab. He even drew its map, which the author has seen,” Azaz wrote.
He also claimed that Bin Laden was also in possession of some secret maps of Pakistan Army, including its key installations in the areas included in his “desired state”.“Bin Laden’s plan was to capture the areas if his desired state and attack Pakistan army once it came under attack from India,” the book says.
Mumbai attack brought the two countries to the brink of war, as India blamed Pakistani agencies for masterminding the attack while Pakistan maintained that the attack was launched by non-state actors.“During those days in November 2008, an Al-Qaeda militant Omar Sheikh made hoax calls to the US, Pakistani and Indian political and military leaders.
Pretending to be Indian defence minister, the caller even spoke to the then Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, threatening them of dire consequences of the Mumbai attack. These calls were clearly meant to provoke an attack on India. The caller also made attempts to talk to the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the US Secretary of State but failed,” claims the author adding that CIA helped Pakistan in resolving that puzzle and thus the war was prevented.