Heavily armed attackers on motorcycles sprayed automatic gunfire outside the US government cultural center in Calcutta yesterday, killing five police officers, officials said.
Eighteen officers, one pedestrian and one private security guard were wounded, said state Home Secretary Amit Kiran Deb. No Americans were injured and no consulate staffers were in the building.
Draped in shawls, four attackers on two motorcycles drove up to the American Center in the heart of Calcutta at 6:35am local time, US officials said. They shot at Indian police officers posted there and fled.
The attack came less than six weeks after an assault on the Indian Parliament left nine government workers and five attackers dead in New Delhi. That attack, which India blamed on two Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups and on Pakistan's spy agency, put the two countries on a war footing.
A pool of blood could be seen outside the American Center, which was closed for the day. Spent AK-47 bullets littered the street.
India's home minister, Lal Krishna Advani, condemned what he called a "terrorist attack" against US and Indian interests.
A senior home ministry official said that a man called police in New Delhi and said the attack had been carried out by Harkat-ul Jehad-e-Islami, a Pakistan-based militant group.
In Calcutta, Deb said another call to police, traced to Dubai, also said Harkat was claiming responsibility. Two local Bengali dailies received faxes from a group claiming to be Harkat, taking responsibility for the attack, police said.
"We have taken over your city, we are claiming responsibility [for] this incident," the fax said. It also threatened to blow up the Howrah Bridge, which runs through Calcutta and is India's longest-spanned bridge.
The fax said the shootout yesterday was an act of revenge against the killing of one of their activists last year.
Advani said Harkat, which fought the Indian army in Kashmir in the 1990s, was connected to Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
However, a spokesman for the group denied any involvement in the attack and accused India of manufacturing the claim.
"None of our members was behind it," said spokesman Mohammed Rizwan Kashmiri. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Aziz Khan also denied the claim.
"These are all baseless allegations. There is no truth that Pakistan's ISI was behind the attack on the American Center," he said.
The attackers were not hurt, said Calcutta Police Commissioner Sujoy Chakraborty.
He said the attack occurred when police officers on the night shift were changing guard.
Armed forces were quickly deployed to guard bus and railway stations, bridges, reservoirs, and other key facilities.
In the Indian capital of New Delhi, the Cabinet committee on security held an emergency meeting and a high alert was issued at the US Embassy and other American institutions.
Joint Commissioner of Police Suresh Roy said there were intelligence reports of a possible strike against US establishments in India, as part of an "unprecedented threat" during India's Republic Day celebrations this Saturday.
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