Mumbai, Looking Back
Over the last few weeks, new details have began to emerge about the recent terrorist attacks on Mumbai. In my original post, I talked about what happened that day, what they attacked and how. In this post, I will look back on the events in the new light they are being shown in.
First off, the group who originally took credit for the attacks is not the one shouldering the blame. The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a Pakistani militant group that is on terrorist lists in the US, UN, and India. This information comes from the interrogation of the only surviving gunman, who said that the attackers were in contact with Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who is the operations chief of the LeT. The group is known for the 2006 bombings on Mumbai trains, and a 2001 attack on India’s parliament that fuelled tension that pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of a fourth war.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081204/india_nm/india368669
But what does the LeT think of all this? Well, their leader, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, made some statements about it. Below are some quotes from the english transcript.
‘Indians Will Continue to Mislead the World Community By Linking Us to Lashkar[-e Taiba], The ISI, Even Al-Qaeda’
“The Indian Authorities… Are Only Interested in Blaming Pakistan” For Mumbai Attacks
“[Blaming Pakistan] is… A Crude Attempt to Divert the Indian People’s Attention from Their Massive Security and Intelligence Failure That Led To the Mumbai Attacks”
“Like Any Other Patriotic Pakistani, We Too Will Stand Behind The Armed Forces If The Indians Resort To Any Aggression Against Pakistan’s Sovereignty
http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD214308
Back to the attacks, I seem to remember the Indian government saying they were going to ‘act decisively’ with these attacks and step up their game to make sure it never happens again. So I was surprised when I read that:
Police searching a mound of baggage abandoned amid the carnage of the attack on Mumbai’s main train station found two bombs Wednesday — nearly a week after they were left there by gunmen — in a stunning new example of the botched security that has become a major issue in India since the three-day siege.
While Police searched through hundreds of bags left by the victims in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station, a suspicious bag was discovered and the bomb squad was called. Inside were two 8.8-pound bombs, which were taken away and safely detonated. After the attacks, police found unexploded bombs at several of the sites, including two luxury hotels and a Jewish center. It is very strange that it took this long to find un-exploded bombs, and it sure doesn’t appear to be quick and desicive. There could have been a bomb in those bags that was set to detonate in two days, then I would be talking about another wave of attacks and death. I really hope they have cleaned out the last of the explosives and no more reports like this surface.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081203/ap_on_re_as/as_india_shooting
It is now widely accepted that the attackers came by sea. This should have come as no surprise to Indian officials, who were warned a month ago by the US that an attack was imminent and it would come by sea. India stepped up security for a week, then let the attack fall back as an after thought, until the attackers actually came. The Indian government is staring intense public accusations after the attacks, especially in the security and intelligence fields, where the failures are continuing to mount.
But, how did the hijackers make it to Mumbai. Early in the morning a normal fishing boat, Kuber, left port on India’s west coast and headed for the Sir Creek, a river that runs into the sea at the border between India and Pakistan. It is a journey that the Kuber has made regularly since it was commissioned in 1997. But for lead crewman Amar Narayan Singh, a 45-year-old father of three, and his four crew members, it would be their last.
About one week in, the boat was hijacked by terrorists who used it as a link in their passage to Mumbai. There still remain questions about how the terrorists made their way to Mumbai. Investigators are pursuing leads that they left in another boat from the Pakistan port of Karachi, along the coast west of the mouth of Sir Creek, then hijacked the Kuber to avoid detection in Indian territorial waters. For the first eight days of the Kuber voyage, Mr. Narayan checked in regularly with Mr. Masani, the owner. Then, starting around Nov. 21, he failed to report in. Mr. Masani says he didn’t report that to authorities because sometimes a day or two would pass without contact.
Around the same time local fishermen starting talking about how they had seen three bodies floating in the sea in the Jakhau area near the Pakistani border. Investigators believe the terrorists, having hijacked the Kuber, immediately killed most of the crew and threw them overboard. The boat’s movements for the next five days are unknown. But the hijackers appear to have kept Mr. Narayan alive until the evening of Nov. 26, shortly before they launched their attacks, possibly to help them navigate. Around that time, a local Mumbai fisherman witnessed the killing of a sailor on board a fishing vessel that he was near. The killers threw the body below deck, he says. The one attacker who was caught by authorities later that night tipped them to the plotters’ use of the Kuber. The next afternoon an Indian Coast Guard helicopter spotted the Kuber at sea, according to Commandant AKS Panwar, spokesman for the Indian Coast Guard’s western region headquarters in Mumbai. He said the boat had a dead body in it and was from Porbandar. The boat was handed over to the police.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081202/ap_on_re_as/as_india_shooting
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122816457079069941.html?mod=article-outset-box
This was an interesting report that I found saying that the terrorists were using drugs. Officials said drug paraphernalia, including syringes, was recovered from the scene of the attacks. The heavily built men had also used steroids to build a tougher physique.
“We found injections containing traces of cocaine and LSD left behind by the terrorists and later found drugs in their blood,” said one official. “There was also evidence of steroids, which isn’t uncommon in terrorists. These men were all toned, suggesting they had been doing some heavy training for the attacks. This explains why they managed to battle the commandos for over 50 hours with no food or sleep.”
Also, the Cyber Society of India (CYSI) said that the country is equally vulnerable to cyber terrorism, as it is to physical terrorism. It urged the government to take proactive measures to prevent any possible cyber attacks. This is something all major countries should do. If Russia and Georgia taught us anything, its that cyber-war can happen to anybody at any time.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Cyber-terrorism-also-grips-India/393474/
Overall, the attacks were successful because of a lack of proactive measures by the Indian government. The US told them it was going to happen, and it did. Sadly, the people of Mumbai will pay the price. Below is a video taken by a security camera during the attacks and the pictures of the gunman. Fair warning, some pictures are post-mortem.
PICTURES: http://counterterrorismblog.org/face%20of%20terror.php
Your blog is so informative … keep up the good work!!!!