Public outrage in India over the devastating Mumbai attacks was fuelled today by fresh reports that clear warnings of a coming assault were ignored.

# Pakistan denies link to terrorists

# SLIDE SHOW: Mumbai Massacre

# INFO-GRAPHIC: Mumbai attacks

The Hindustan Times said intelligence agencies had precise information at least 10 months ago that the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was planning an attack on Mumbai’s five-star hotels.

The information was provided by a Lashkar militant arrested in northern India in February, the Times said, citing one of his interrogators.

The interrogator said the captured operative had stayed at a guesthouse in Mumbai at the end of last year and "surveyed each floor" of the luxury hotels targeted in last week’s attacks, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi/Trident.

He had also disclosed that any attack would probably come from the sea.

The Islamist gunmen who launched their assault on Wednesday evening slipped into Mumbai in two dinghies. As well as the two hotels, their targets included Mumbai’s main train station, a hospital and a Jewish cultural centre.

By the time Indian commandos had shot the last remaining militants dead 60 hours later, 170 people had been killed. Initial suspicions have focused on the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

With the Indian media baying for accountability, interior minister Shivraj Patil resigned on Sunday after "owning moral responsibility" for the attacks, and several other senior politicians have offered to step down.

According to the Times of India, the Intelligence Bureau told India’s National Security Council in September that the Taj hotel could be a target and another advisory on November 12 said that an attack would come from the sea.

Citing sources in RAW, India’s military intelligence wing, the Times said telephone intercepts in which the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba could be heard saying the "cargo is on its way" had been passed on to the navy and coast guard on November 18.

US 'warned India' about Mumbai

The US warned India about a possible threat at least a month before last week's Mumbai attacks, US media have quoted unnamed officials as saying.

One senior US official also told the BBC there were "strong indications" that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba group was behind the carnage.

Pakistan, which has denied having any involvement, has offered India a joint investigation team.

At least 188 people are now known to have died in the coordinated attacks.

One US official said that India had been told of an apparent plot to launch an attack on Mumbai from the sea, Associated Press news agency reported.

The reports came as India's navy chief said there had been "systemic failures" in the country's security and intelligence services.

Seaborne attack

Indian officials have repeatedly said there is evidence that the militants behind the attacks had Pakistani links.

    
CAPTURED GUNMAN
Undated photo of Azam Amir Qasab in hospital
Suspect named as Azam Amir Qasab, 21
Fluent English speaker
Told police he is from Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab province
Said the attackers took orders from handlers in Pakistan

Israel buries Mumbai dead
How attacks unfolded
'Rotting' Indian intelligence
Rivals trading in hope
One of the gunmen, named as Azam Amir Qasab, survived and is in police custody. Police have said he is "certainly" from Pakistan.

The Indian media have said he is linked to the Kashmiri militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, or Army of the Pure, but the group has denied responsibility.

An Indian official appeared to confirm the US media reports that there was a known threat to at least some of the locations targeted, including the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.

Mumbai police chief Hassan Gafoor told a news conference on Tuesday that security authorities had "had an alert that hotels like Taj could be exposed to such danger".

ABC News quoted Indian officials as saying that after receiving the US warning, they also intercepted a satellite phone message on 18 November warning of a seaborne attack on Mumbai.

The city had been on high alert but security measures at the attacked hotels had recently been relaxed, the network reported.

ABC also reported that the Indian authorities had seized a mobile phone SIM card belonging to the attackers, which they said had led to a "treasure trove" of contacts and information.

'Resolve'

The allegations from the US are likely to add to the growing sense of public anger that the attacks, which left more than 200 people injured, were not prevented.

Two foreigners freed from Mumbai's Trident-Oberoi hotel, 27 November 2008
Many people were trapped inside the hotels for several days

India's home minister and the chief and deputy chief ministers of Maharashtra state have all resigned amid criticism of the government's handling of the crisis.

The navy chief, Adm Suresh Mehta, said on Tuesday security was "a serious matter" and failures needed to be "taken stock of", but he added that the government's response was "going to be quite adequate".

India's new home minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, has said he will respond to the crisis "with determination and resolve".

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said a military response was not under consideration but that if Pakistan did not act the bilateral peace process would be at risk.

India has also asked Islamabad to hand over 20 fugitives from Indian law it believes are hiding in Pakistan. It is not clear what, if any, links those on the list had to the Mumbai attacks.

Indian media reports say the names include alleged underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, wanted in connection with bombings in Mumbai in 1993, and Muslim cleric Maulana Masood Azhar who was freed from jail in India in exchange for passengers on a hijacked plane in 1999.

Islamabad has not responded directly to the request but on Tuesday offered India a joint investigation into the attacks.

It warned against attempts to inflame tensions in the region.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit India on Wednesday and the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says India will present its case against Pakistan and try to persuade Washington to apply diplomatic pressure on Islamabad to comply with its demands.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7761165.stm