The World Desk, World - Written by Philippe Gohier on Thursday, November 27, 2008 12:25 - 6 Comments

The Mumbai massacre (Updated)

All the latest on the attacks. Check back often.

The Mumbai massacre



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For analysis of the attacks, read Michael Petrou at The World Desk.

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The latest news:

Stratfor has learned that discussions are already taking place among senior Congress officials in New Delhi to amass troops along the border in Kashmir, a situation reminiscent of the Indian response to the 2001 parliamentary bombing in Mumbai that led to a near-nuclear confrontation between India and Pakistan.
Stratfor

Mumbai: At least five hostages and two terrorists have been killed at Nariman House, a Jewish centre in Mumbai that was taken over by militants on Wednesday night. J K Dutt, director general of the National Security Guard (NSG) commandos, confirmed the death of five hostages and that of two terrorists at the Jewish centre in Colaba. “We have captured the whole building,” said Dutt, adding the commandos were moving through the building to check for explosives.
NARIMAN CLEAR: Two terrorists, 5 inmates dead (IBN)

At least two British-born Pakistanis are among the Mumbai terrorists, it was revealed today. According to one source, as many as seven of the gunmen may have British connections and some may have come from the Leeds and Bradford area. Two Britons were captured with eight other terrorists after commandos stormed two hotels and a Jewish centre to free hostages. The death toll mounted to 143 people this morning after 24 bodies were found in the Oberoi hotel. Later, Israeli rescue service Zaka reported that all the remaining nine hostages in the Jewish centre were believed to be dead. More than 327 people have been injured. Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh revealed that up to 25 terrorists were responsible for the bomb blasts and shootings that targeted tourists and foreign interests.
Mumbai siege gunmen are from Britain (Evening Standard)

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon says a Canadian has been killed in Mumbai where terrorists have staged a series of deadly attacks. In a teleconference statement early Friday, Cannon did not identify the dead Canadian or provide details concerning the circumstances surrounding the death. The victim’s family has been notified. Cannon also said that consular officials in Mumbai have been in contact with two other Canadians who were wounded during the terror attacks on Wednesday and subsequent siege. He said one had been released from hospital and the other is in stable condition.
One Canadian killed, two hurt, six reported missing after Mumbai attacks (Canadian Press)

Ismail alias Zakiruallah, a Punjabi from Faridkot in Pakistan who was arrested by the Mumbai police on Wednesday night during the terror attacks, is giving interrogators the complete story of how the sensational terror operation was planned and executed. He has told the Mumbai police that he has been trained by the Lashkar e Tayiba, said police sources while giving chilling details of the most daring terror attack in India that has so far killed 101 people–and the horror story is not over, yet. rediff.com, with help of political and governmental sources in New Delhi [Images] and Mumbai, including from intelligence, has pieced together the government’s thinking on the matter.
Exclusive: LeT terrorist Ismail arrested in Mumbai (rediff.com)

Indian commandos scoured through the flame and wreckage of two posh hotels Thursday, searching for survivors and battling bands of gunmen who unleashed two days of chaos here in India’s commercial capital. A third group of gunmen, the remnants of well-organized squads of attackers, remained holed up in a Jewish community center. By midnight, amid early indications that the sieges were ending, fears were growing that the death toll would rise past the more than 119 known. Smoke was still rising from one of the hotels; people who escaped reported stepping around corpses. Dozens, perhaps many more, remained trapped or were held hostage to the heavily armed assailants; their survival was yet to be determined.
Indian Forces Tighten Grip on Mumbai (New York Times)

Three terrorists, including a Pakistani national, were arrested by the security forces from the Taj hotel on Thursday night. Ajmal Amir Kamal, a resident of Faridkot, Multan in Pakistan and two others were arrested from the hotel, official sources said. Kamal told the investigators that they had come in a merchant vessel, which dropped them at 10 nautical miles ahead of Indian waters. From there, they took a dingy fibre glass boat to enter the Indian waters, he said. There were 12 people on the boat, he said. The arrested militants belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, they said.
3 suspected terrorists arrested from Taj (IBN)

An Israeli rescue team left Thursday afternoon for Mumbai, India, where gunmen were holding several residents hostage at a Jewish Center, a spokesman for the team told CNN.
Israeli rescue team heads to Mumbai (CNN)

The terror attacks in Mumbai have put the cops on high alert in Delhi. There is uneasiness since some of the suspects of September’s Delhi blasts are still on the run and they could trigger explosions in the Capital. Delhi Police has intensified efforts to nab them. In a late-night development, some sympathisers of SIMI in the capital were picked up for interrogation. The Mumbai attack, says intelligence sources, was planned in October this year after the Indian Mujahideen (IM) module was busted in September in which two terrorists were killed.
City on high alert, pro-SIMI men picked up (Times of India)

6 Comments

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madeyoulook
Nov 28, 2008 13:24

Philippe, thank you for this aggregating job and the summary snippets. I will indeed check back often.

j janus
Nov 28, 2008 18:37

Re: Mumbai
What is amazing is how much damage was done by so few! What if a shipload of militia were to arrive at the ports of Vancouver & Toronto and do the same thing (God forbid) - would our military be prepared for something like that? Or something similar during the 2010 games? Under the current economic circumstances, can’t we renege on our commitment to 2011 and have our forces here to protect our country?
What if Mumbai was just a dry run for something bigger? If that had been Texas, it would never have happened because everyone there carries a gun - they would have been ‘taken out’ pronto! Maybe more of our government and public service personnel need to have access to weapons!

alexlorn@telus.net
Nov 29, 2008 0:16

An excellent report,a very interesting read.

Charles
Nov 29, 2008 17:50

For decades now the Terrorists have been operating and causing untold destruction and misery. Following 9/11 President Bush vowed to go and eradicate terrorists by going to their source and has failed miserably as demonstrated by the recent Mumbai Massacre. He placed misguided trust in countries that have been the root cause of terrorism, in particular Pakistan, Saudi Arabia. Both these countries are in the state of denial and afraid of the extreme radicals who operate Madras where they teach young recruits religious extremism and hatred and their graduates go to on to the Terrorists training camps. Mosques in several European countries, Britain in particular, operate as the recruiting ground for terrorists and often go to Pakistan for training. Things are likely to go worse unless action is taken to force Pakistan and others to closing their Madras’s and terrorists training camps. Pakistan has proved that it cannot be trusted.

Shanker Yendamuri
Dec 1, 2008 0:33

It is a good and unbiased report. It is a consequence of laxity in security wherein India has become a shelter for all kinds of foreign elements especially from Bangla Desh and Pakistan with kind blessings of Central and State governments who continue to create terror in major cities of India causing loss of innocent lives both foreign and native. Indians conisder foreign tourists/guests as equivalent to God or “Atthithi Devo Bava” (Guests equivalent to God). This is the result of vote bank politics of the successive governments where there is an appeasement of minorities (Muslims) for the sake of votes.

Rajiv
Dec 2, 2008 20:48

Every year thousands of people die in floods, natural calamities, temple stampedes (Equivalent to dozens of people being crushed to death in a stampede on a Sunday morning church service!?), trains, buses and trucks packed with people falling into gorges, rivers. Nobody bothers about those deaths.

The other day while searching for news on India I got to read about the story that mentioned a poor woman in India fell into a hole in the bus floor and died. A hole in the bus floor?

Now less than 200 people die in one of the chaotic everyday incidents and whole world is stunned. I guess it’s because it’s on TV, targets are the most affluent Indians and foreigners, and there are British, Americans, Jews and MUSLIMS in the mix.

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