Associated Press
CALCUTTA, India — Indian officials said Tuesday an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan claimed responsibility for an attack at a U.S. cultural center in Calcutta that killed four Indian policemen and wounded 20 other people.
Both Pakistan and a representative of the group disputed India’s claim, and American officials played down suggestions the attack was terrorism directed at the United States.
Since a deadly attack on Parliament in New Delhi on Dec. 13, both India and Pakistan have massed troops at their border. Pakistan offered Tuesday to ease its war footing if India starts moving soldiers away from the border, but there was no immediate response from New Delhi. Indian officials also blamed the attack on Parliament on Pakistan-based militants.
At about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, four gunmen on motorcycles drove up to the U.S. government cultural center in Calcutta and opened fire, killing four police officers and wounding 18 officers, a pedestrian and a private security guard, state Home Secretary Amit Kiran Deb said. No Americans were hurt. The assailants fled.
The attack came as both FBI director Robert Mueller and President Bush’s point man for counterterrorism, ambassador at large Francis Taylor, were in New Delhi. Taylor was concluding a two-day joint working group on counterterrorism, and Mueller met with senior Indian officials.
After the attack, Mueller sounded a cautious note, saying it was too early to call it terrorism.
"I think I will describe it as a horrible tragedy and an assault on police officers," Mueller said. "But categorizing it beyond that, in the absence of the facts … would be inappropriate at this time."
In Washington, D.C., a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity that the United States does not believe it was a terrorist attack or that it was aimed at American interests. He said the target could have been Indian police.
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