Mumbai attacks stir public anger

MUMBAI, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government sought to control political damage Monday amidst rising public ire over the Mumbai terrorist carnage.

As authorities assessed the death toll and damage from the 50-plus-hour-long siege of India's financial capital that began last Wednesday night, Singh's coalition-led government in New Delhi forced out Home Minister Shivraj Patil, replacing him with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

Singh, a noted economist, assumed the Finance Ministry charge, as the country grapples with high inflation, liquidity crisis and the buffeting winds from the global financial turmoil.

On TV talk shows, people vented their anguish and anger against what they see as government's failure to contain the worsening terror menace and politician apathy.

With Patil's departure, more political heads could roll, the Press Trust of India reported, adding Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, could be next to go along with his deputy.

At the federal level, the ax could fall on some top bureaucrats and officials, it said. Singh's national security adviser offered to resign but that was turned down.

Singh's government also set up talks with other political parities to form an independent anti-terrorism federal investigatory agency, the BBC reported. There have criticisms that various intelligence failed to properly communicate with one another prior to the Mumbai attacks.

The fragile peace between India and Pakistan has come under threat of derailment following claims by India that the Mumbai attacks had Pakistani links.

While most of the gunmen were killed by Indian security forces during the siege, Indian authorities said one captured alive allegedly admitted he is from Pakistan and was trained by Lashkar-e-Toiba, a Pakistani terror group linked to al-Qaida, CNN reported.

Pakistani security officials told CNN it may have to move its soldiers from the border with Afghanistan, where they are involved in fighting Taliban and al-Qaida militants, if India escalates tensions.

The attacks claimed about 180 lives, including those of 22 foreigners, five of them Americans.