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NEW DELHI: Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned on Sunday, saying he felt obliged to take "moral responsibility" for the brutal Islamist attacks in Mumbai, an official government source said.
Patil, who has been widely criticised in the media for failing to ensure India's domestic security, sent his resignation letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "owning moral responsibility" for the attacks, the source in the home ministry told AFP.
Patil's decision followed a meeting on Saturday evening of the ruling Congress party's top decision-making body.
According to the Press Trust of India, the minister had told the meeting he would be willing to resign if that would help ease pressure on the government.
Even before the Mumbai assault that claimed nearly 200 lives, Patil had been under pressure to quit over a spate of other attacks, including bombings in New Delhi in September and in the northeast state of Assam in October.
- AFP/so
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