Al-Qaeda behind Mumbai attack: Pakistan author

New Delhi, Nov 28 : Top-selling Pakistani author and journalist Ahmed Rashid has said the Al-Qaeda was almost certainly behind the deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai as all the hallmarks of the audacious attack pointed to the outfit.

"All the hallmarks of this attack seem to be Al-Qaeda," said Rashid while speaking to Adnkronos International (AKI) in Rome to promote his latest book 'Descent into Chaos' about the failure of US and European policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"This was a very well-trained group, there were multiple attacks that were coordinated extremely well.

"There were multiple targets and this was a suicide squad, all the attackers were clearly prepared to die. It was certainly the most sophisticated kind of attack that we have seen in India so far. We've seen other bomb attacks but very amateur compared to this."

He said it was significant that foreigners were the main focus of the attacks.

"I don't think this has ever been the case in local bomb blasts and terrorist attacks," he said. "This is the first time foreigners have been targeted in this way."

Rashid said extremists were using terrorism to "create a crisis" between India and Pakistan so the Pakistani army would be diverted from its battles on the Afghan border.

He also criticised Indian intelligence for failing to effectively stop terrorist attacks.

"We've seen already the earlier bomb blasts that have taken place in India... the culprits have not been caught," he said.

"And there has been a lot of criticism by the Indian media and the Indian public against the lack of security and lack of information available to Indian intelligence."

Rashid also made a grim prediction about the threat of future terror attacks.

"I think it is quite possible there will be more attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan and in India. This is a very critical period we are passing through."

Rashid's book, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, was a New York Times bestseller and translated into 22 languages after it was released in 2000. It sold 1.5 million copies since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks and was used extensively by American analysts in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.