NEW DELHI: The US National Security Agency (NSA) has targeted the Indian embassy in Washington and the India’s UN office in New York with sophisticated surveillance equipment, the Hindu newspaper said in a report on Wednesday.
“The NSA selected India’s UN office and the embassy as location targets for infiltrating their computers and telephones with hi-tech bugs,” the report said, adding that India is on a top secret list of countries targeted for intensive spying.
The NSA reportedly bugged telephone lines of the Indian diplomatic missions and copied their hard disks.
The revelations about US spying activities may overshadow a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh scheduled on Friday in Washington. These are also likely to lead to calls from the opposition in India for the government to take a tougher line with the United States.
As such revelations, leaked through documents obtained by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, have already strained relations between the US and its foreign allies, notably Brazil.
