Military

DATE=01/23/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-285561

TITLE= INDIA ATTACK / L

BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE

DATELINE= NEW DELHI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Police in India's West Bengal State have detained five men

in connection with Tuesday's attack on a police check post outside the

American Center Library in Kolkata - also known as Calcutta. Four

police officers died in the attack and more than a dozen other people

were wounded. V-O-A's Jim Teeple reports U-S officials say it is unclear

who was behind the attack.

TEXT: The American Center Library and the U-S Consulate reopened for

business Wednesday, one day after gunmen sprayed a police check point outside

the American Center library with automatic weapons fire - shooting police

and pedestrians before speeding away.

Police in the state of West Bengal say some of those detained on

Wednesday were taken into custody in Basirhat, about 40 kilometers north of

Calcutta. Police say several of the detainees are teachers at a local Islamic

school.

India's home minister and other senior officials have charged

Islamic militants carried out the attack with ties to Pakistan's intelligence

service - a charge strongly denied by Pakistani officials.

In New Delhi, U-S Embassy spokesman, Gordon Duguid says U-S officials

have not determined who was behind the attack.

/// DUIGUID ACT ///

Even now the motive of this attack is unknown to us - or at least

unconfirmed. Although there are media reports that two different

groups have claimed responsibility, the accurate identity of the attackers is

still to be confirmed.

/// END ACT ///

Indian media reports quote authorities in West Bengal as saying they

believe the attackers are linked to a Muslim criminal gang of

kidnappers who were seeking to avenge the death of their leader - killed by police

last year. The reports say police guarding the American Center Library

were the prime targets of the attackers and not The American Center or its employees.

(Signed)

neb/jlt/wd