Analysis: Mumbai Attack Differs from Past Terror Strikes.
... The Mumbai attack is unique from past terror strikes carried out by Islamic terrorists. Instead of one or more bombings at distinct sites, the Mumbai attackers struck throughout the city using military tactics. Instead of one or more bombings carried out over a short period of time, Mumbai is entering its third day of crisis.
An attack of this nature cannot be thrown together overnight. It requires planned, scouting, financing, training, and a support network to aid the fighters. Initial reports indicate the attacks originated from Pakistan, the hub of jihadi activity in South Asia. Few local terror groups have the capacity to pull off an attack such as this...
Much more at The Long War Journal.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/11/analysis_mumbai_atta.php
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Mumbai Attacks: 300 Feared Dead as Full Horror of the Terrorist Attacks Emerges - Damien McElroy, Rahul Bedi and Andrew Alderson, Daily Telegraph
Piles of bodies were found yesterday after commandos stormed the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, the last of three buildings that terrorists had occupied in the city. Three terrorists were killed in the battle.
The end to four days of carnage came as tensions grew between India and Pakistan over the atrocity. It is believed that just 10 highly-trained terrorists took part in the attack. Nine were killed and one suspect is under arrest. British and Indian authorities were yesterday playing down reports that some of the attackers were British, although this had not been comprehensively ruled out.
The Sunday Telegraph was given the details of a secret interrogation report based on an interview with the surviving terrorist. The 19-year-old suspect, who lived near the Pakistani city of Multan, is said to have joined Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Islamist fundamentalist group, a year ago. He is alleged to have confessed that he received weapons instruction at a training camp in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The plot is said to have been planned from there. A group then made a reconnaissance of Bombay earlier this year. India believes a Pakistani merchant ship was used to transport some, or all, of the terrorists before they seized control of a fishing trawler to reach Mumbai (Bombay). The final leg of their journey was completed in inflatable boats.
More at The Daily Telegraph.
Indians Claim Terrorists Took Orders From Pakistan - Dean Nelson, The Times
Indian authorities yesterday claimed to have proof that the Mumbai terrorists were receiving instructions from Pakistan and discussing tactics with their handlers during the three days of attacks in which they killed at least 195 people.
The claims threaten further to embitter relations between the two nuclear powers. Tensions have been high since confirmation that the only captured gunman was a 21-year-old Pakistani. It has also emerged that India had been warned that terrorists were planning an attack in Mumbai.
Up to 22 foreigners were among those killed in raids by 10-15 terrorists on sites across the city, including hotels, the main railway station, a Jewish community centre and two hospitals. The last of the gunmen was killed by Indian commandos yesterday morning, ending the siege at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. One hotel worker was found alive and 22 bodies were removed. As many as 80 bodies may still be in the building.
More at The Times.
Pakistanis Deny Any Role in the Attacks on Mumbai - Jane Perlez and Salman Masood, New York Times
Apprehensive about potential reprisals by India over the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Pakistani government insisted Saturday that it had not been involved. It pledged to take action against Pakistan-based militants if they were found to be implicated.
“Our hands are clean,” the Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said at a news conference. “Any entity or group involved in the ghastly act, the Pakistan government will proceed against it.”
The government called a crisis cabinet meeting on Saturday, a day after Indian officials suggested that a militant group with Pakistani ties, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was responsible for the attacks. Similar accusations after an attack on the Indian Parliament by another group, Jaish-e-Muhammad, brought the two governments to the brink of war in 2002.
More at The New York Times.
Ruthless Attackers, Desperate Victims - Emily Wax, Washington Post
After a wave of coordinated terrorist attacks turned parts of Mumbai's financial district into a combat zone, the full extent of the 60 hours of violence came to light Saturday in the stories of victims who filled the city's hospitals. The assailants killed at least 195 people and wounded about 300. Among the dead were 22 foreigners, including six Americans.
More at The Washington Post and:
Mumbai Siege Over, Indian Forces Kill Last Militants - Voice of America
Terrorists Planned a 9/11 in India - Washington Times
India Faces Reckoning as Terror Toll Eclipses 170 - New York Times
Siege Ends, Death Toll Rises - Globe and Mail
Mumbai Siege Survivors Detail Harrowing Ordeals - Washington Post
Mumbai: City of Death - The Times
Mumbai Residents Fear Attacks' Aftereffects - Los Angeles Times
Three Days Of Terror In Mumbai - San Francisco Chronicle
Mumbai Assess Impact of Siege - Voice of America
Indian PM Calls High-Level Meetings - Voice of America
India, Pakistan Lock Horns - Toronto Star
Pakistan Withdraws Pledge to Send Spy Chief to India - Voice of America
Pakistan Pledges to Look into any Militant Role in Attacks - Los Angeles Times
Defiant Pakistan Disputes India's Allegations - Washington Post
Attacks Stoke India-Pakistan Tensions - Washington Times
Pakistan May Move Troops on Afghan Border to Indian Border - Kyodo
US Says 2 Americans Killed in Mumbai Attacks, But Toll Could be Higher - VOA
Hour by Hour: Three Days of Terror in Mumbai - Toronto Star
Innovative, Ruthless, Disciplined Terrorism Stalks Us Again - The Times
Mumbai Attacks: Al-Qaeda Methods and Ideology - ABS-CBN News
The Audacious Attack Which Took a Year to Plan - Daily Telegraph
Aftermath of the Mumbai Attacks - New York Times
Mumbai: Authorities Face Questions Over Siege - Time
Day After, Mumbai Limping to Normalcy - Times of India
Attack Illuminates Weakness in India's Government - Newsweek
Bin Laden-inspired Group Wants Asian Caliphate - The Times
Terror Blasts Hole in Peace with Pakistan - The Times
Indian Allegations Alarm Pakistan - BBC News
Mumbai Fallout Tests Pakistan's Govt-military Ties - Dawn
Attacks Imperil Delicate US Role Between Rivals - New York Times
Bush Offers Condolences, Full Support to India - Voice of America
US Aiding India's Investigation - Associated Press
Citizen Journalists Provide Glimpses Into Attacks - New York Times
It's Time to Stand by Bloodied India - The Times editorial
Dateline: Mumbai - Baltimore Sun editorial
The Scourge of Terror - Jerusalem Post editorial
Delhi’s Blunders in Fighting Terrorism - The Times opinion
Terrorists Join Forces -The Australian opinion
Let Bombay Remind Us: They Haven't Gone - Daily Telegraph opinion
Fallout From Mumbai - Washington Post opinion
A Cloud Over India's Muslims - Los Angeles Times opinion
New India in the Crosshairs - National Review opinion
From New Delhi - National Review opinion
An Idea Lost on Fanatics - Los Angeles Times opinion
It’s Not the Cold War - National Review opinion
Mumbai Could Happen Just About Anywhere - OC Register opinion
Terror Changes Course, With the Same Deadly Results - The Australian opinion
India Is Pointing in the Right Direction - Der Spiegel opinion
US is Funding Terrorism
Deepak Chopra Blames Washington For Mumbai Terrorist Attacks
Video and Text
Chopra: What we have seen in Mumbai has been brewing for a long time, and the war on terrorism and the attack on Iraq compounded the situation. What we call "collateral damage" and going after the wrong people actually turns moderates into extremists, and that inflammation then gets organized and appears as this disaster in Bombay. Continue
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21341.htm
India's Leaders Need to Look Closer to Home
The Assault on Mumbai
By Tariq Ali
Why should it be such a surprise if the perpetrators are themselves Indian Muslims? Its hardly a secret that there has been much anger within the poorest sections of the Muslim community against the systematic discrimination and acts of violence carried out against them. Continue
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21345.htm
India's 9/11. Who was Behind the Mumbai Attacks?
- by Michel Chossudovsky - 2008-11-30
The Mumbai terror attacks were part of a carefully planned and coordinated paramilitary-intelligence operation
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11217
The Mumbai Massacres as the Defeat of Counter-terrorism
by Gilad Atzmon / November 29th, 2008 (15)
At the time I am writing these notes it is far from being clear what really happened in Mumbai. The questions I ask myself are the same ones most everyone else is asking: Who were the attackers? Who was behind them and what did they try to achieve? However one thing is evident. The War on Terror is a total disaster. The so-called ‘terrorists’, whoever they are, have won. America and its allies have been defeated.
But it doesn’t stop there, throughout this war America has lost its primacy as a super power. It is now financially ruined. …
(Full article …)
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/11/the-mumbai-massacres-as-the-defeat-of-counter-terrorism/
The Mumbai Massacres as the Defeat of Counter-terrorism
by Gilad Atzmon / November 29th, 2008 (15)
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/index.php?act=post&do=reply_post&f=259&t=100438
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