Deadly Attacks In Mumbai, India (November 2008)
Deadly Attacks In Mumbai, India
Unthinkable? No. Is the deadly attacks in Mumbai a new form of terrorism? No, but it did show that terrorists are willing to plan large scale attacks that do not need airplanes, large trucks filled with explosives parked in a lower level parking garage or in front of an embassy. The deadly attacks in Mumbai, India shows that even with the simplest weapons that included AK-47s, hand grenades and a few improvised explosives that terror can be displayed in shocking awe. This should be a huge wake up call for the rest of the world that is being subjected to the constant threats of terrorism from radical Islam. It could have been Chechnya, London, or even New York. This is a lesson into the minds of terrorist. We can monitor our planes. We can monitor our rail ways. In the end however the Islamic terrorists that want to create a new world order will take whatever we leave unsecured and expose it. If given the time. Many may say these thoughts are an overreaction to the events in India. I beg to differ and say that the events of India are of major importance.
It was a test to see the amount of carnage a simple rudimentary attack can cause. It is an attempt to draw two nations, India and Pakistan, with a bitter history to the brink of war After the chaos, radical Islam expects to be in control of the aftermath regardless of the winner. The current count of 175 dead will in the end trace back to Pakistan and will have it’s roots with al Qaeda linked extremists. This time it was in India. In the past India has warned the world that the conflict in the disputed area of Kashmir was ratcheting up and attracting militants from outside of Kashmir. The area is once again a possible flash point for the next war between India and Pakistan. The connection to these radical groups now in Kashmir with al Qaeda is evident in that they all trained together in the same terrorist training camps that were sponsored and more than likely still being sponsored by the Pakistan Intelligence agency since the Soviet-Afghanistan conflict decades ago. Pakistan is a broken country. It makes no sense that they are not willing to allow outside forces into their territory to assist them in defeating this common enemy. They say they can stop the Islamists themselves. Yet, Pakistan itself is in jeopardy to losing control to groups such as the Taliban. You see, in the new world of terrorism you can call them al Qaeda, Taliban, or any other creative “scary” name that we or they want. In the end however, they are all one in the same. a few organizational difference but still the same. How long does Pakistan expect to be able to continue their charade of posing as a governing entity in control of it’s lands? They do not at this point even control their intelligence agencies who sway back and forth between government and terrorist demands.
What happened in Mumbai, India
2008 Mumbai attacks November 26 lasting until November 29, 2008
Of all the terror attacks since the September 11, 2001 attacks this one was the one that sent shivers up my spine. The brazen act symbolizes the deadliness of simplicity in the world of terrorism. Lightly armed men with very little military training were able to hold one of the world’s largest cities in a terroristic siege. The plan was simple. Send 10 young radicalized young men to kill as many people as possible before they themselves are killed and martyered. Lashkar-e-Taiba was set on getting the world’s attention by orchestrating how deadly and cruel they can be. They were wanting to steal the spotlight from al Qaeda as the world’s most feared terrorist group. In the end 9 of the ten terrorists were killed and one that was injured was taken captive.
The reason that this is so chilling is because this “blueprint” could easily be carried out anywhere in the modern world, even occurring in the streets of the United States.
The crew of ten arrived in the piers in the South section around 10p.m. local time after sailing from Karachi across the Arabian Sea. They sailed in an Indian fishing boat that they hijacked and killed the crew immediately except for the captain who piloted the boat to Mumbai. At this point they slit his throat. They arrived on shore in inflatable boats and were seen by bewildered fishermen that watched them arrive and suspiciously removed their cargo of backpacks carrying their weapons, ammo, explosives and a small amount of dried fruits. The young men had cell phones that were connected at the other end to older handlers in Pakistan that provided orders and constant contact on what their next move was in order to follow a plan set forth many miles away to be carried out that day in Mumbai.
The group took a taxi from the fishing slums to the inner city and left a bomb in the taxi that was scheduled to explode an hour later. They threw a grenade into a bar and began firing their automatic weapons into the patrons. A second group went to the rail station where once again a bomb was left in the taxi that they rode in set to explode an hour later. The terrorists arrived and settled in before they opened up their back packs and brandished their assault rifles and began opening fire throughout the station. Minutes prior it was reported that the men were actually talking with other travellers before they began the attack. People that were shot relied on playing dead just to survive the ordeal as anything that grabbed their attention also drew their fire.
The police were outgunned and many even ran away from the scene. For fifteen minutes the terrorists were able to select who lived and died that day. The group killed 52 people at this train station and wounded scores more. Many of the victims were from the same family as they were planning to travel together. Chaos was created without a decisive plan on how to stop them. They had no idea what the next target could be. The bombs placed in the taxis exploded and killed the drivers and the passengers that were unfortunate enough to hail those taxis..
An interesting aspect of this crime was that Indian intelligence were able to pick up the phone conversations that were carried out between the controllers in Pakistan and the terrorists in Mumbai. The controllers were able to keep a tight noose on the young men and made sure that they carried out their plan to the tee. They were constantly encouraged to finish their job.
As the attack at the train station was being carried out by two terrorist, two more youths armed blasted their way into the Trident Oberoi Hotel, one of Mumbai’s biggest. Staff was killed as well as patrons waiting in the lobby. The two gunmen then turned their attention to a restaurant in the hotel and began killing diners. Visitors inside the hotel locked themselves in their room to avoid the gunfire. Ten were killed on a narrow landing in one of the most gruesome events of the attack. The two gunmen were eventually killed by Indian Special Forces. The last one was killed in the bathroom where he was hiding after his partner was killed.
Two more militants about that same time walked into the Taj Hotel and began opening fire as they were later joined by two more that had previously attacked a cafe a few blocks away killing 11 patrons. At this point there were four gunmen in the Taj Hotel. The controllers ordered the gunmen to start fires in the hotel to create an atmosphere of fear. After accomplishing this they began going from room to room looking for more people to kill. The fire blazed aout the windows of one of the wings of the hotel that created a picture for headlines acrosee the world. Indian special forces eventually arrived killing the gunmen.
The two gunmen from the train station went into a neighborhood and killed a man in his home while eating dinner. The Gunmen then went to a hospital and looked for hostages they shot and killed a police commander. The two men eventually left the hospital and were confronted by police killing the driver and overtaking the vehicle and eventually driving away.
Keep in mind that at this point there are still gunmen killing people at the Trident Oberoi hotel and holding hostages. The next target that the terrorists hit was the Nariman House a Jewish owned establishment that served as an a religious outreach house. This is where they killed a Rabi and his guests. The gunmen ramained after killing a total of nine Jewish people. On Friday after approximately 36 hours special forces rushed the historic landmark and killed them. The gunmen that carried out the attacks at the train station crashed into a police roadblock and were shot by police ending their reign of terror hours prior to this event.
In the end the 9 of the ten terrorist were killed and one was in custody. The little over 36 hours of terrorism came to an end and resulted in the killing of 173 civilians and wounding of at least 308 more. This type of attack is not that complicated and yet it’s efficiency in the violence that it is able to produce is mindnumbing. The India police were quoted as saying that they were prepared for a terrorist attack but not for 5 simultaneously occuring throughout the city. In the future local and government authorities has to keep this type of attack in the back of their minds. Coordinated lightly armed men attacking major cities anywhere would be a tough test for authorities.
Lashkar-i-tayyaba, the group accused by India of organizing the Mumbai attacks, was formed in 1991 in the Kunar province of Afghanistan, mainly to recruit and train volunteers to fight the jihad, or holy war, in Afghanistan and the Indian-administered Kashmir region. Members of the group, known as the LT, have a track record of carrying out attacks in India, prompting calls from New Delhi for Pakistan to crack down on its operations. The LT is also known to have had past links with the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
The LT’s sponsors, notably its founder, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, a Pakistani cleric, are followers of the Ahle Hadith Sunni tradition of Islam, which bears close resemblance to the Wahabi Sunni traditions practiced in Saudi Arabia. In 2002, LT was banned by Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s former president, following Pakistan’s decision to join the US-led “war on terror”. The ban prompted the LT to move its volunteers from its centre near Lahore. Intelligence officials say members are believed to have migrated to Afghanistan’s border region near Pakistan. See Also: Terrorist Group: Lashkar-e-Taiba
The attacks, which drew widespread condemnation across the world, began on 26 November 2008 and lasted until 29 November, killing at least 173 people and wounding at least 308
