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2008 Mumbai attacks: Difference between revisions

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The Mumbai attacks of November 2008
Locations of some of the attacks
Location	Mumbai, India
Date	November 26, 2008 9.20 p.m.[1] (IST, UTC +5:30)
Attack type	Bombings, shootings, hostage crises[2]
Weapons	RDX, AK-47s,and grenades[3]
Deaths	143+[4][5]
Injured	327+[4]

The November 2008 Mumbai attacks were a series of ten coordinated terrorist attacks that occurred across Mumbai (Bombay), India's financial capital and largest city, on November 26, 2008.^[6] At least 143 people including at least six foreign nationals have been confirmed dead, and at least 327 have been injured.^[4] All except one of the attacks took place in South Mumbai; at the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station; at two five-star hotels: the Oberoi TridentatNariman Point, and Taj Mahal Palace & Tower near the Gateway of India; at the Leopold Café, a popular tourist restaurant in Colaba; at the Cama Hospital; at the Orthodox Jewish-owned Mumbai Chabad House; at the Metro Adlabs movie theatre; and at the Mumbai Police Headquarters where at least three high-level officers, including chief of the Anti Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra, were killed by gunfire. The tenth incident involved a taxi blast at Vile Parle near the airport but it is uncertain whether this is connected with the South Mumbai attacks.^[7] Between fifty and sixty terrorists have been involved in the attacks.^[8]

A previously unknown organization identifying itself as the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility by email sent to news organizations.^[3] Due to the apparent targeting of Britons, Americans, and Jews, the number of militants involved, the type of equipment they used, and the pattern of co-ordinated attacks, several reporters and media analysts speculate that non-Indian Islamic terrorists may have been responsible.^{[9][10][11][12][13]} Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the attacks probably had “external linkages,” believing that the attack could not have occurred without help.^[9] On 28 November, police stated that three terrorists who had attacked the Taj Hotel confessed to being members of the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist group,^[14][15] which may have severe consequences for India-Pakistan relations.^[16] The Indian Mujahideen terrorist group threatened in September 2008 to carry out bombings on sites in Mumbai.^[17][18] According to some news reports, a terrorist holding hostages at the Oberoi told an Indian TV channel that they wanted all 'Mujahideen' in Indian prisons released before they released their hostages. He also indicated that there were seven terrorists holding hostages at that location.^[19][20] Other reports indicate that this demand was made through a hostage at the Mumbai Chabad House, in a call to the Israeli consulate in New Delhi.^[21] Experts have conflicting views as to whether al Qaeda is behind the attacks.^[22][23]

After 2 days of gunfire and explosions things quieted down as of the early morning of 28 November in Mumbai.^[24][25] The fires were out and soldiers were leading hostages and holed-up guests to safety and removing bodies of those killed in the attacks.^[24] Both hotels occupied by terrorists were cleared and the terrorists were flushed out.^[25] Indian commandos stormed the Jewish center where the terrorists had held at least ten hostages.^[24]

Locations

Location	Type of attack
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station	Shootings, grenade attacks.
South Mumbai Police Headquarters	Shootings[26]
Leopold Café, Colaba	Shootings.
Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel	Shootings,[27] six explosions, fire on top floor, hostages,[6] RDX found nearby.[28]
Oberoi Trident hotel (Operated by Oberoi Hotels & Resorts)	Shootings, explosions, hostages, fire.
File:Metroadlabs.jpg Metro movie theater	Shooting from hijacked police jeep.[29]
Cama Hospital	Shootings, hostages.[30]
Mumbai Chabad House (Nariman House)	Siege, shootings,[31] hostages.
Vile Parle suburb, North Mumbai	Car bomb blast.[32]
Mazagaon docks	Explosion, boat with armaments seized.

Chronology

India has suffered a wave of bomb attacks in recent years, and Mumbai, the financial capital of India, has also been the target of many of these attacks.

At 8:10 pm local time on 26 November, a boat carrying around eight young men with several large bags docked onto the shore of Mumbai's Cuffe Parade neighborhood, where six of the men disembarked and the rest continued sailing along the shore.^[35] When local residents asked about their occupation, the group responded that they were students.^[35]

The attacks began around 9:20 pm, when two terrorists armed with AK rifles entered the passenger hall of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station and opened fire and threw grenades,^[1] killing at least ten people.^[3] Two terrorists held fifteen hostages, including seven foreigners, in the Taj Mahal hotel.^[36] CNN reported at 11 pm that the hostage situation at the Taj had been resolved and quoted the police chief of Maharashtra state as saying that all hostages were freed;^[6] however, it was later learned that there were still hostages in the hotel.^[28] Forty people are being held as hostages in the Oberoi Trident hotel.^[37] Six blasts are reported to have taken place at the Taj hotel and one at the Oberoi Trident.^[38][39] The Taj Mahal Hotel was reported to be completely under government control at 4:22 am.^[6] and Indian commandoes killed two gunmen inside Oberoi hotel and took control of the building.^[40] Both hotels were on fire and were surrounded and stormed by Rapid Action Forces commandos.^[41] Reports emerged of terrorists using live feeds broadcast by television stations; feeds to the hotels have subsequently been blocked.^{[citation needed]} All terrorists are out of the Taj hotel, and police and firefighters are working to rescue the estimated 50 people trapped inside. Low-intensity blasts were reported in Vile Parle and a grenade attack in Santa Cruz. Two blasts were reported in the Nepean Sea Road area of south Mumbai. Local Mumbai Suburban Railway trains on the Western Railway are running, whereas those of the Central Railway are suspended. More blasts were reported at the Oberoi as the siege continued.^[37] Meanwhile, police seized a boat filled with arms and explosives anchored at Mazgaon dock off Mumbai harbour. ^{[citation needed]}

A number of European Parliament Committee on International Trade delegates were staying in the Taj Mahal hotel when it was attacked.^[42] British Conservative MEP Sajjad Karim (who was in the lobby when gunmen initially opened fire there) and German Social Democrat MEP Erika Mann were last heard of hiding in different parts of the building.^[43] Also reported present was Spanish MEP Ignasi Guardans, who was barricaded in a hotel room.^[44] Another British Conservative MEP, Syed Kamall, reports that he along with several other MEPs left the hotel and went to a nearby restaurant shortly before the attack.^[43] Kamill also reported that Polish MEP Jan Masiel was thought to have been sleeping in his hotel room when the attacks occurred.^[43] He did not leave his room for a long time, but he finally managed to safely leave the hotel.^[45] Kamil and Guardans report that a Hungarian MEP's assistant was shot.^[43][46]

Also caught up in the shooting were the President of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, while checking in at the Oberoi Trident,^[46] and Indian MP N. N. KrishnadasofKerala, while having dinner at a restaurant in the Taj hotel.^[47]

The New York Times is reporting that terrorists are holding several hostages at the Mumbai Chabad HouseinColaba, owned by Chabad Lubavitch.^[48] Chabad Lubavitch also expressed concern that its representative in Mumbai, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, and his wife, Rivka Holtzberg, were missing.^[49]They are believed to be taken hostage by the terrorists.^[50] According to the Times of India, the Indian Jewish Federation reported that a rabbi and his family had been taken hostage at the Chabad house.^[51] Times Online reports about Sir Gulam Noon - MBE's experience on how he escaped the bombed Taj Mahal Hotel.^[52]

Maharashtra state home secretary Bipin Shrimali has announced that the police have killed four gunmen when they attempted to flee in cars in two separate incidents, and state home minister R. R. Patil says nine suspects have also been arrested.^[53]

About 400 Army commandos and 300 National Security Guards (NSG) commandos and 36~100 MARCOS commandos were sent to Mumbai.^[3] The army was reported to have secured one of the hotels, and eight hostages have been freed at the Jewish outreach group.^[54][55][41]

Events at the Taj

Responsibility

Around fifty to sixty terrorists took part in the attacks.^[8] They looked young, in their early twenties, and wore T-shirts, black shirts, and jeans.^[56] The Guardian has reported that they seemed "cool and composed" and "in no hurry".^[56] Police officers rescuing hostages at the Chabad House were surprised that the terrorists looked "white" and either non-Indian or from the country's far north.^[57] The terrorists had planned the attack several month ahead of time, setting up "control rooms" in the two luxury hotels that were targeted.^[58]

A previously unknown organization identifying itself as the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility by email sent to news organizations.^[3] The New York Times has stated that international security experts "drew a blank on" the Deccan Mujahideen group, with one analyst labeling it a "front name".^[9] In September, the Indian Mujahideen had warned of future attacks.^[59] Their message said that “you are already on our hit-list and this time very, very seriously.”^[9] According to a witness, the gunmen were looking for American and British passport holders and left others alone, such as a man claiming to be Italian.^[60] At the same time, The Independent has reported that "the attackers were young South Asian men speaking HindiorUrdu, suggesting they are probably members of an Indian militant group rather than foreigners".^[10]

Initially, some media reports had attributed these terrorist attacks to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group.^[11][12] Early on 28 November, police investigators stated that three captured terrorists have confessed to being Lashkar-e-Taiba members, with of them allegedly named 'Ajmal Amir Kamal' and originally from Pakistan's Punjab area.^[14][15] These allegations could have severe consequences for India-Pakistan relations.^[16] Also, if Lashkar-e-Taiba is involved then the attack may have a connection to al Qaeda since this would be the first time that that group has targeted Westerners specifically.^[61] Lashkar-e-Taiba denies any involvement.^[10] Sky News has reported that one of the terrorists shouted "Are you aware how many people have been killed in Kashmir? Are you aware how your army has killed Muslims?" and spoke in Urdu with what was described as a Kashmiri accent.^[62] The Guardian called speculation about al Qaeda "immediate, simplistic - and probably misleading".^[13]ASt Andrews University professor quoted by The Telegraph argues that "Al-Qaeda set the blueprint for terrorist operations and now we see different people, different groups in different parts of the world, copying it."^[63] Many analysts said the November attacks were more likely to have been carried out by indigenous, Indian extremist groups blamed for a series of bombings earlier this year than Pakistani-linked ones.^[64]

An official in the Indian Navy refused to rule out the possibility that the attacks are related to regional pirate activity, in the context of its drastic increase and with the INS sinking of a pirate ship. ^[65] According to some Indian news reports, Indian intelligence agencies believed that attackers came by sea to Mumbai from the Pakistani port of Karachi on the ship MV Alpha.^[66][67] This led the Indian Navy and coast guard to begin searching ships off India's western coast.^[68] The Times of India is reporting that the Indian Coast Guard has seized a ship that was reported missing a few days ago.^[69] The fishing boat from Porbandar was reported hijacked on November 14 and it is suspected that it was used by the terrorists to get to the coast at Colaba. The captain of the boat was found dead and several crew members are missing.^[70] The Gujarat Police have said the terror strikes were similar to the Akshardham Temple attacks of 2002.^[71] These reports were later dismissed after a search of the MV Alpha by the Indian Navy found no evidence of involvement,^[72] though the investigation of the ship continues.^[73]

By the afternoon of Nov. 28 IST, Indian newschannel Aaj Tak held an interview with one of the escaped hostages, named Saajan Kapoor, who told the channel that the attackers had repeatedly been in telephone contact with someone in Karachi (Sind, Pakistan).

Casualties

Nationality	Deaths	Injured
Indian	96	300+
Australian	4[74]	2
German	3[74]	3
British	1	7
Canadian	1	2
Japanese	1	1
Cypriot	1[74]	-
Italian	1	-
American	-	3
Omani	-	2[74]
Filipino	-	1[75]
Chinese	-	1[74]
Spanish	-	1[74]
Finnish	-	1[74]
Norwegian	-	1[76]

At least 143 people have been killed in the attacks and 327 wounded.^[28] Seven Britons, three Americans, two Australians, two Canadians, and one Filipino were among those injured.^{[77] [78]} Among the dead are 81 Indian civilians, 14 policemen and six foreigners, including four Australians, one Japanese, one Briton, one Italian, one German, one Cypriot and one Canadian.^{[79][6] [80][81][82][83][84][85]} In addition, nine terrorists were killed and nine more were arrested. According to British High Commissioner in India, Sir Richard Stagg, seven Britons have been injured in the terror strikes and one dead.^[86] Andreas Liveras, a British yachting tycoon, was among those confirmed killed.^[87] Eleven other foreigners of different nationalities were injured in the terror strikes and were admitted to the Bombay Hospital. Hospital sources said the injured foreigners are from Australia, USA, Norway, Spain, Canada and Singapore.^[84] However, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains that no Singaporean has been injured in the attacks.^[88] According to Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, 14 policemen have been killed in total, including the following high profile officers:^[82]

• Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare,^[89] who headed the team investigating the politically sensitive 2006 Malegaon blasts. Karkare had also been receiving death threats recently,^[90] including a threat to bomb his residence,^[91] but it is unclear if these were related to his death.
• Additional Commissioner of Police: Ashok Kamte^[89]
• Encounter specialist: Vijay Salaskar^[89]
• Senior inspector Shashank Shinde,^[89] who had recently been involved in investigating many of India's recent bombings.

Three railway officials of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus also have been killed in the terror strikes.^[92]

The Government of Maharashtra announced Rs.5lakh (about 10,000 USD) compensation to the kin of those killed in the terror attacks and Rs. 50,000 (about 1,000 USD) to the seriously injured.^[93] The Times Now reported that six bodies had been recovered from the Oberoi Trident. It also reported that ten granite expolations were made at the Taj.^{[citation needed]} NSGs commandos named the Nariman House Operation Black Tornado. In addition twenty more commandos were rushed to the Nariman House. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked Pakistan PM Yousaf Raza Gillani to send ISI officers to Delhi.^{[citation needed]} Pakiatan PM Ginani accepts PM Manmohan Singh's requests to send the ISI officials.

After-effects

As a result of this incident, all schools, colleges and most offices, including the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange remained closed on 27 November 2008.^[94] Shooting of Bollywood films and TV serials has also been halted in the city.^[95] Many international airlines temporarily discontinued operations to Mumbai in the interest of passenger and crew safety.^[96]

The two remaining one-day internationals of the seven match series between the visiting England cricket team and India were cancelled. The visiting team is set to fly home soon. ^[97] The inaugural T20 Champions League scheduled from December 3 to 10, Mumbai being one of the host cities, was postponed.^[98] There were threats to blow up ITC Fortune HotelinNavi Mumbai after Mumbai police received a bomb threat from the terrorists.^[99]

Rumors about further shootings at CST were doing the rounds in Bombay on November 28 and were widely reported by the news channels. The Railway Police denied these rumors but stopped trains approaching CST.^[100]

Coverage

The Mumbai attacks highlighted the increasing importance of social media and citizen journalism in the way events are reported.^[101] Many people covered the unfolding event on websites like Twitter and Flickr, which are largely clustered under search tags such as "mumbai" and "attack" (Twitter adds hashtags to these). The day after the attacks, the Indian government asked Mumbai citizens to cease updating Twitter with live coverage of police activity.^[102] Many Indian bloggers live-blogged the attacks. A map of the attacks was set up using Google Maps.^[103]

Reactions

In a televised address, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India will “go after” individuals and organizations behind the terrorist attacks, which were “well-planned with external linkages.”^[104] In addition, he said: "The well-planned and very orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of panic by choosing high-profile targets and indiscriminately killing innocent foreigners," Singh said in a televised address to the nation.^[105] Leader of the opposition L K Advani has asked the people of India to stay united during this time of emergency.^[106]

The Mumbai attacks has elicited a strong response from leaders around the world, largely expressing condemnation for the acts of terrorism and condolences for the relatives of those killed.^[105][107] The India government reportedly refused an offer of assistance from Israeli intelligence to investigate the attacks.^[108]

Several western countries, including the US, Britain, Australia, France and Canada, issued advisories warning their citizens against traveling to Mumbai.^[109]

Security meeting

On Thursday 27th November, Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting to discuss waterfront security along the coastline. ^[110] At the conclusion of the meeting, it was decided that a number of steps be taken to improve security:^[111]

• Increase the number of police stations to 50 (from 10)
• Increase the number of police to 1500 from 250
• 30 modern surveillance boats

References

External links

Template:Wikinewspar2

• Help page with local contact numbers
• Twitter-fed list of useful local numbers
• Twitter feed for Mumbai
• Google Map of the attacks
• Full coverage from BBC News, CNN, DAWN, Guardian, Hindu, Hindustan Times, Mumbai Mid-Day, New York Times, Times of India
• Live video coverage from IBNLive, NDTV
• Pictures from Aljazeera, Arabian Business, BBC News, Vinukumar Ranganathan, Yahoo! Photo Full Coverage
• Photo of alleged Terrorist captured by CCTV camera at CST Railway Station