Terrorist attacks hit Mumbai, many killed and injured

[Revy]

Coordinated Attacks Kill at Least 80 in India

Gunmen Appear to Target Foreigners in Assaults on 7 Sites


Gunmen attack seven sites in Mumbai, India, killing dozens and taking hostages at areas frequented by foreigners.




By Rama Lakshmi (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/rama+lakshmi/)
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, November 26, 2008; 6:14 PM
NEW DELHI, Nov. 26 -- At least 80 people were killed and more than 200 injured Wednesday night in seven synchronized attacks in Mumbai, India's commercial capital, police said.
This Story


Raw Video: Shooting Spree Aftermath in India (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/11/26/ST2008112603222.html)
U.S. State Department Information Hotline (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/26/AR2008112603441.html)
Gunmen Attack Tourist Areas in India (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2008/11/26/GA2008112603190.html)
Coordinated Attacks Kill at Least 80 in India (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/26/AR2008112602472.html)

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A senior police official in the city said gunmen were holding hostages at two luxury hotels.
Television news footage later showed flames shooting out of the top floor of the renowned Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel and black smoke billowing up from near the structure's distinctive central dome after what was described as a massive explosion.
The shootings and explosions took place in the heart of the city's affluent southern section. At least two of the attacks targeted five-star hotels.
Three top police officers, including the chief of Mumbai's anti-terrorist squad, Hemant Karkare, died in operations at the hotels.
About 10:30 p.m., witnesses told reporters, two men fired automatic weapons outside the Cafe Leopold restaurant, which is popular with foreigners, then moved toward the five-star Taj Majal hotel while continuing to fire indiscriminately. The gunmen also reached the Oberoi hotel, the city's main Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station and a hospital.
Witnesses said the gunmen initially asked for British and American nationals. About 10 Americans and Britons were believed to be trapped in the Taj Mahal hotel late Wednesday.
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A previously unknown group calling itself the "Deccan Mujaheddin" sent e-mails to news organizations claiming responsibility for the strikes. Intelligence officials said they had no information about the group, and it was not immediately possible to assess the validity of the claim. The purported group's name apparently refers to the Deccan Plateau, an area that spans eight Indian states and covers much of the central and southern part of the country.
Since May, a wave of bombings has rocked several Indian cities, killing more than 200 people. Some of the bombings were claimed by a group calling itself the Indian Mujaheddin. The term "mujaheddin" refers to Islamic holy warriors.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said he was not aware of any American casualties in the attacks so far. He said the United States "strongly condemns the terrorist attacks" and stands "ready to support the Indian authorities" as they deal with them.
Brooke Anderson, the spokesman for President-elect Barack Obama's national security transition operation, said, "These coordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave and urgent threat of terrorism. The United States must continue to strengthen our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks."
The 36-story, five-star Oberoi hotel was evacuated, and television stations broadcast scenes of guests wheeling out their luggage. Authorities said at least two gunmen were still inside the Oberoi hotel, while the gun battle with police raged.



It was not immediately clear who the gunmen were. Television channels reported that at least 40 police commandos in bulletproof vests had entered the Oberoi. State Home Minister R.R. Patil told the Associated Press that police have killed four suspects and arrested nine others.



"These are suspected to be some terrorist strikes. In a number of places, terrorists have opened fire; some grenades have also been used. In two hotels they are still holed up," Police Chief A.N. Roy told reporters. "Terrorists are holed up inside in three places, including two five-star hotels."
Roy said an undetermined number of hostages were being held in the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels. He did not immediately specify the nationality of any of those being held or say who the attackers might be.
Local train service was suspended, and the police cordoned off the area, which is usually packed with revelers and street food vendors late into the night.
Two hours after the shooting began, a fire was reported in the lobby of the Oberoi, and a massive explosion was heard in a gas station in the adjoining Colaba area, killing at least 10 of the victims.
A 34-year businessman, Ashish Jain, said in a cellphone interview that he was having dinner with friends at the Taj Mahal hotel's rooftop restaurant when the attack began.
"When I paid the bill and tried to leave, the hotel staff said there were terrorists in the lobby and that we could not leave," Jain said. "There were 150 of us on the rooftop, including some foreign nationals. . . . It was really alarming to be trapped there for over four hours. We could feel the building shake with the explosions. We could see the smoke and the fire. People were panicking and crying. And finally the army and the police came and secured the fire escape exit and we could get out."
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Among those barricaded inside the Taj Mahal hotel were several European lawmakers who were visiting Mumbai ahead of a summit meeting of European Union and Indian leaders.
"I was in the lobby . . . when gunmen came in and people starting running," one of the lawmakers, Sajjad Karim, told Britain's Press Association news agency by telephone from the basement of the hotel. "A gunman just stood there spraying bullets around, right next to me. I managed to turn away, and I ran into the hotel kitchen."
Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, has been the scene of bombings that have killed hundreds of people since 1993. In the worst attack, 257 people were killed and more than 1,100 wounded in a series of 13 bomb blasts in March 1993. Indian authorities blamed Muslim militants for the attacks on the city's stock exchange, trains, hotels and gas stations. After a long-running trial, 100 people were convicted of involvement in the bombings, which authorities said were carried out to avenge the deaths of hundreds of Indian Muslims in religious riots.
In 2003, more bombings attributed to Muslim militants killed 52 people in Mumbai.
In July 2006, more than 200 people were reported killed in a series of blasts that ripped through railway trains and commuter rail stations in Mumbai. Police later filed charges against 28 suspects belonging to a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group called Lashkar-i-Taiba and a banned northern Indian organization called the Students Islamic Movement of India. Police charged that the Pakistani intelligence service was behind the bombings. Pakistan denied the accusation.
Television news footage from the scene of the one of Wednesday's attacks showed gunmen opening fire on a crowd from a passing police van that they had apparently commandeered. The incident suggested that the attacks were part of a well-planned operation that involved tactics not previously seen in India.

[Revy]

Sorry about the format of the text. I copy/pasted.
I wonder how this will be used? Will India and U.S. invade Pakistan?

[Mindtoaster]

Cross your fingers and hope that this was not Naxalites.

[Revy]

Cross your fingers and hope that this was not Naxalites.

They are supposed to be an Islamist group called Deccan Mujahideen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deccan_Mujahideen).

[Spirit of Spartacus]

Sorry about the format of the text. I copy/pasted.
I wonder how this will be used? Will India and U.S. invade Pakistan?

Of cours e not. India has no reason to invade Pakistan.

As for the US, if it does invade Pakistan, it will not do so using the excuse of terrorist attacks in India.

The US is already repeatedly violating Pakistani airspace near the north-western border with Afghanistan, and has also sent ground troops into Pakistani territory, resulting in at least one significant massacre of civilians.

[Pr0d1gy]

India must show restraint at all possible costs.

[FreeFocus]

Sorry about the format of the text. I copy/pasted.
I wonder how this will be used? Will India and U.S. invade Pakistan?

If India invaded Pakistan, we would have nuclear war. Some analysts are arguing that US strategy is to weaken Pakistan and perhaps force a partition, which would probably include defanging the state by eliminating its nukes. Maybe at that point an invasion would be on the table, but while they have nukes?

[Spirit of Spartacus]

If India invaded Pakistan, we would have nuclear war. Some analysts are arguing that US strategy is to weaken Pakistan and perhaps force a partition, which would probably include defanging the state by eliminating its nukes. Maybe at that point an invasion would be on the table, but while they have nukes?

Personally, I feel that the nukes are hardly a problem for the US. They can take out most of Pakistan's strategic nuclear assets in a few targetted air-strikes.

What they cannot do, however, is win the war thus started.

What they'll be up against is this:
160 million people in a poor, Third-world country, all of them already having many reasons to be angry at US imperialism.

If Afghanistan and Iraq are quagmires for the US and its allies, imagine what a hypothetical invasion of Pakistan would be like.

Over the past month or two, the US has repeatedly attempted to cross into Pakistani territory.

Last time NATO troops tried to cross the Pakistani border, in the north-west, most of the local tribal people prepared to fight immediately. The local population immediately geared up for war: the women, children and old people were taken to secure locations, while the tribal warriors rushed to defensive positions in the mountains.

And this is just the border region.

There are huge cities in Pakistan, sprawling industrial towns, ports, etc. These cities are filled with impoverished and increasingly rebellious workers (unions are gaining strength, for instance). There have been massive strikes over the past few years, especially during the last year or so. Workers have even been involved in deadly clashes with state security forces in the industrial regions where cotton is processed into cheap, high-quality clothing for the First-world.

I myself participated in a strike of workers in the Pakistan Telecom Company Ltd., which was privatized. Thousands of telecom workers all over the country went on strike, threatening to paralyze the whole communications network of the country.

There are hordes of angry students, whose prospects in life are threatened by imperialist finance capitalism.

Imagine what all these people would do in case of US invasion...

[fabiansocialist]

I wonder how this will be used? Will India and U.S. invade Pakistan?

No. Zardari just came from India after proposing no-first-strike by Pakistan: the Indians know Pakistan is in a conciliatory mood. In any case, the Pakistanis don't need to add to their woes by meddling in India. This was home-grown and the Indians won't try to portray it any other way.

This is getting massive press coverage in the West only because of the five-star hotels and the foreigners involved. Typical Western media double standards.

[RedStarOverChina]

No. Zardari just came from India after proposing no-first-strike by Pakistan: the Indians know Pakistan is in a conciliatory mood. In any case, the Pakistanis don't need to add to their woes by meddling in India. This was home-grown and the Indians won't try to portray it any other way.


Actually, Indian media makes it their duty to claim Pakistan's behind every terrorist attack in India, everytime there's a terrorist attack. This time is no exception.

In addition, India's Prime Minister indicated in his speech that the attackers are foreigners.

[bellyscratch]

Are these guys just religious extremists or do they have some political affiliation too?

[bellyscratch]

This doesnt look too good

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7752237.stm

[fabiansocialist]

Actually, Indian media makes it their duty to claim Pakistan's behind every terrorist attack in India, everytime there's a terrorist attack. This time is no exception.

Which Indian papers? India Times is reporting what Manmohan Singh said.


In addition, India's Prime Minister indicated in his speech that the attackers are foreigners.Anything to get himself off the hook....

An interesting article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/world/asia/28group.html?_r=1&hp) in today's NYT:


Christine Fair, senior political scientist and a South Asia expert at the RAND Corporation, was careful to say that the identity of the terrorists could not yet be known. But she insisted the style of the attacks and the targets in Mumbai suggested the militants were likely to be Indian Muslims and not linked to Al Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Taiba, another violent South Asian terrorist group.

Ms. Fair said one incident — “a watershed event” — that continues to anger Muslims were the riots that swept Gujarat State near Mumbai in 2002. The violence killed between 1,000 and 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.

“There are a lot of very, very angry Muslims in India,” she said, “The economic disparities are startling and India has been very slow to publicly embrace its rising Muslim problem. You cannot put lipstick on this pig. This is a major domestic political challenge for India.”

“The public political face of India says, “Our Muslims have not been radicalized.’ But the Indian intelligence apparatus knows that’s not true. India’s Muslim communities are being sucked into the global landscape of Islamist jihad,” she said. “Indians will have a strong incentive to link this to Al Qaeda. “Al Qaeda’s in your toilet!’ But this is a domestic issue. This is not India’s 9/11.”

[Sankofa]

This shit is on every news channel in the US. Some analyst guy was saying these attacks legitimize U.S. imperialism in Iraq :lol:

[ckaihatsu]

This shit is on every news channel in the US. Some analyst guy was saying these attacks legitimize U.S. imperialism in Iraq :lol:


Yup, that's exactly it. The capitalist managers have again hit rock-bottom and all they can agree on is pirates in Somalia and terror attacks in India.

This, for 2008-2009 is the political equivalent of what 9/11 was for 2001. But this time around people are more politically mature -- and economically dispossessed -- and the capitalists won't be able to get as much shock value out of their stunts this time around.

The imperialists are obviously trying to reinvigorate the war machine in Afghanistan and Iraq -- I would argue they're at a lower point than they were in 2000.


Chris




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[Revy]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122782332649762273.html?mod=googlenews_wsj



The terrorist strikes in Mumbai are likely to intensify pressure on President-elect Barack Obama to craft a regional solution to the instability in South and Central Asia.
Under President George W. Bush, the U.S. has improved ties with India, and the two countries completed a nuclear-cooperation deal this year. U.S. relations with Pakistan also have been on a modest upswing, with American officials citing better collaboration in fighting al Qaeda in lawless Pakistani border areas.


The problem for Washington is that India and Pakistan remain at loggerheads. Although India hasn't identified the assailants in Mumbai, it quickly pointed the finger at Pakistan, and Pakistan rejected the claim. The conflict between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed states, has a way of overwhelming U.S. goals in the region.
U.S. officials said the nature of the Mumbai attacks has led them to examine whether two Pakistan-based terrorist groups, Laskhar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, may have played a role. However, they said that the evidence is merely circumstantial and that nothing is proven. Both groups have primarily focused on the conflict between Pakistan and India over the disputed Kashmir region. The groups have also developed ties to al Qaeda.


Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday issued a thinly veiled threat against Pakistan, saying "there would be a cost" unless neighboring governments take steps to ensure that terrorists aren't operating from inside their borders.


It isn't known whether the Mumbai attackers, who targeted both Indians and Western visitors, were specifically trying to punish India for its warming ties with the U.S. Terrorism in India has a long history that predates the recent nuclear-cooperation deal with the U.S.


Still, it is clear that Pakistan fears being surrounded by a three-way alliance of the U.S., India and Afghanistan, and the U.S.-India nuclear deal fed such fears. "We don't see the U.S. as a neutral broker anymore," said a senior Pakistani official. "We don't think this is how we should be repaid for our support in fighting al Qaeda."


Mr. Obama said during the presidential campaign that he believes normalizing ties between India and Pakistan, and between Pakistan and Afghanistan, is central to bringing stability to South and Central Asia. In a July interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Obama said the U.S. should play a more-direct role in trying to broker a peace agreement between Islamabad and New Delhi.


A big concern for the U.S. now is that a war of words with India could divert Pakistan's attention from the fight against al Qaeda and Taliban forces that have found havens in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.


A militant attack on India's Parliament in late 2001 nearly sparked a war between New Delhi and Islamabad. India massed hundreds of thousands of troops on its northern border at the time, and threatened an invasion to uproot militant training camps inside Pakistan.


Pakistan is sensitive to any signs that the U.S. is favoring India, especially as U.S.-Indian business ties deepen and the two countries cooperate on military matters. Pakistani officials have criticized the Bush administration for not placing a check on India's activities inside Afghanistan. New Delhi has opened dozens of consulates and trade offices across Afghanistan and secured lucrative road-building contracts along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.


In the July interview, Mr. Obama said the U.S. shouldn't dismiss Islamabad's fears about the rising influence of India inside Afghanistan.


"If one of the central concerns of Pakistan is its security posture towards India, then we need to put that on the table for discussions as we try to solve the problems in Afghanistan," he said.


At the same time, Mr. Obama cautioned Pakistan. "Kashmir continues to be a constant instigator of tension between India and Pakistan. And, historically, Pakistan has tolerated, or in some cases, funded the mujahedeen," he said. "We have to have an honest conversation about how counterproductive that is."

[fabiansocialist]

From the WSJ


U.S. relations with Pakistan also have been on a modest upswing, with American officials citing better collaboration in fighting al Qaeda in lawless Pakistani border areas.

That is a complete crock (as are other things in the article). Pakistanis are seething about the US attacks in Northern Pakistan, which they rightly see as infringement of national sovereignty.

[Revy]

From the WSJ



That is a complete crock (as are other things in the article). Pakistanis are seething about the US attacks in Northern Pakistan, which they rightly see as infringement of national sovereignty.
Of course it is. It's the Wall Street Journal. I posted it though, to show that the U.S. media is already chanting "Pakistan! " in response to these attacks.

[Hiero]

Cross your fingers and hope that this was not Naxalites.
This terrorist attack does not fit any character or ideology of the Naxal movement. It was way off the mark to imply it could be a Maoist group.

[redwinter]

this is a statement from Revolution newspaper (voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA), www.revcom.us, on the attacks:

On the Mumbai Attacks

A series of attacks on public buildings, tourist destinations, and other places in Mumbai, India began on November 26, and continued through November 29. News sources report that over 188 people were killed and some 300 more people were injured in these attacks. At this time it is unclear who was behind these acts and what they were aiming to do.



Nobody should accept the explanations of the news media and government leaders at face value. But some things ARE very clear:


One: whoever was behind this and whatever their intent, their acts, besides causing the death and suffering of many innocent people, actually benefited the imperialist system and the regime in India that is part of that oppressive global setup. These bombings will be seized on by the imperialist rulers of the U.S., as well as the reactionary Indian regime, as a pretext to try to intensify repression, unleash extreme chauvinist reactionary forces within India, and to expand the so-called “war on terror”—actually a war for empire.



Two: the imperialist system is the cause of massive suffering in the world and ultimately holds responsibility for creating the conditions that give rise even to very wrong-headed actions in opposition to it. But things like the attack in Mumbai are most definitely NOT in the interests of the masses of people, all over the world.


Three: Around the world, what is urgently needed—as opposed to this kind of harmful stuff—is the building of truly massive political resistance and opposition to what these imperialists, led by the U.S. imperialists and the regimes they back and sponsor, are doing—the many crimes they have committed and are continuing to commit—and to the way in which they will seize on this incident to seek to justify and to carry further these crimes and their overall juggernaut of war and repression.


Finally: a genuinely emancipating revolution—a communist revolution—is a struggle involving millions and millions of people, who are determined to bring about a radical change in society and the world. This communist revolution aims to overturn the grotesque and horrific systems and relations in the world that cause such untold and unnecessary suffering for literally billions throughout the globe, and which themselves also give rise to and are ultimately responsible for grotesque forms of opposition to this. The nature and aim of this revolutionary struggle is nothing less than the conscious and determined struggle of millions and ultimately billions, throughout the globe, to bring into being a whole new world without exploitation, oppression, and social inequalities. It is a serious thing and it must be approached in a serious way—soberly, with science, commitment, and maturity.

[benhur]

I think it's more a religious attack than a political one, because Jews and Jewish institutions were targeted. It's also said the terrorists let go of Turks (because they were Muslims). Also, the victims who were tortured happened to be Jews. Here's the link on this.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3539171/Mumbai-attacks-Jews-tortured-before-executed-during-hostage-crisis.html

How far all this is true remains to be seen.