# The Red Fort bombing

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
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> Cite as: "The Red Fort bombing," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-red-fort-bombing/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's on-air attribution of a car bombing outside the Red Fort in New Delhi to Kashmiri separatist groups — offered with the acknowledgement that saying so brings him death threats from Pakistanis, and with a flat definition: groups that murder civilians for political purposes are terrorist groups, whatever their political point may be.*

- **Attack:** Car bombing outside the Red Fort, New Delhi
- **Casualties reported live:** More than two dozen injured; no death toll yet
- **Kiriakou's assessment:** "Clearly a terrorist attack"
- **His attribution:** Kashmiri separatist groups — "I would bet"
- **Consequence he expects:** Death threats from Pakistanis, as two or three weeks earlier
- **His definition:** Murdering civilians for political purposes is terrorism

Breaking news reached the broadcast in its closing minutes: a car bombing in New Delhi. John Kiriakou's response is a compact example of how he handles attribution before any evidence is available.

## The report

The explosion occurred outside the Red Fort, a tourist attraction in New Delhi.[1][2] Kiriakou relayed the early figures — "more than two dozen injured so far. I haven't seen any number on deaths" — and gave his read of the event itself: "it's clearly a terrorist attack."[2] The pictures and video from the scene that morning, he said, were grisly.[2]

## The attribution

Invited by [Ted Rall](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ted-rall) to speculate, Kiriakou did — and prefaced it with the cost. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was Kashmiri separatist groups," he said, and immediately added: "Again, I'm going to get death threats from Pakistanis now, like I did two or three weeks ago, when I say that these groups carry out terrorist attacks."[2]

He did not soften it. "Yeah, they carry out terrorist attacks because they're terrorist groups."[2]

## The definition

What followed is the reasoning behind the label, stated as a rule rather than a judgement about Kashmir. "Whatever your political point is, is irrelevant," Kiriakou said. "If you're out there murdering civilians, you're a terrorist."[2]

Rall completed the definition — that terrorism is violence against civilians for political purposes — and Kiriakou confirmed it: "Political. That's the definition of terrorism."[3] He then restated his guess in the form of a wager: "So yeah, I would bet this is probably Kashmiris."[3]

## Note on epistemic status

Kiriakou marks this as speculation throughout — "I wouldn't be at all surprised," "I would bet," "probably" — offered minutes after the event and with no claim to information. What he states without hedging is the definitional point: that the merits of a cause do not bear on whether an organisation attacking civilians is a terrorist organisation.

The segment closed the broadcast; the hosts said they would follow the story the next day.[3]

## See also

- [Ted Rall](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ted-rall)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-10), at 55:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJAMwNGkkQ&t=3335s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-10-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/
2. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-10), at 56:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJAMwNGkkQ&t=3366s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-10-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/
3. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-10), at 56:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJAMwNGkkQ&t=3398s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-10-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-red-fort-bombing/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt