India Under Terror Attack! At least ten people killed in Mumbai shootings: TV (now 125 +)

Fresh firing at Taj, only 2 terrorist remain as per reports they are shuttling on the ground and 1st floors and they have 2 people hostage with them

It almost seems as if the terrorists are still in communication with one another and they are coordinating their efforts in unison. This is the second time I have noticed a considerable lull in the action only to have renewed fighting in both locations almost simultaneously.

If India were to go to war with Pakistan over this incident, the US and western (European) powers might be tolerant of a Limited, regional nuclear conflict.

Such an outcome would:



-Effectively deal with the on-going threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of a (perceived) unstable Islamic government (Pakistan); reducing the chance that such weapons could fall into the hands of rougur "terrorist" cells.


-Eliminate an up-and-coming competative economic force (India), without incurring the costs of direct economic confrontation.


-Severely impact the growth of a current economic competitor (China), with risk of economic and/or military back-lash: "Clean Hands" Option.

Which, in turn would...


-Effectively deprive an increasingly disruptive rival (Russia) of its Prime Ally (China).



Granted, millions of people might die horrible deaths in the process.


But in the world of Geopolitical Economics, such losses are relatively easy to amoratize.



Qui Bono?, Indeed!



Edit to add: We'll know the situation is indeed "going south" if/when we begin to hear of explosions and/or attacks in Pakistan, which will be labeled as "Retribution".

[edit on 28-11-2008 by Bhadhidar]

[edit on 28-11-2008 by Bhadhidar]

Gosh, I've got to get off of here, but I find it hard to pull myself away from this. I am really worried about the reports of terrorists having escaped. This thing needs to end quickly. I just hope that the terrorists that escaped didn't escape with those explosives.

I guess this really is starting to look like this is coming from Pakistan. I had hoped so badly that wasn't so. I still feel that they have more than just logistical local help, but I don't know... These guys are good.
Even if it wasn't coming from Pakistan, that is the picture being painted right now and the damage is probably done. My thoughts are with everyone caught in the middle of this mindless stuff. When are people going to wake up?

[edit on 28-11-2008 by Jay-in-AR]

The latest reconstruction of what has happened so far:

This is how the terror attack was probably carried out. This is based on the various reports emanating from a variety of sources, and the initial interrogation of the apprehended Pakistani nationals belonging to the Lashkar- e-Toiba. I have put all this together and this is what turns up:

After 2/3 months of training, reconnaissance of potential targets in Mumbai and preparation under the Pakistani ISI, a group of around 45 terrorists were trained to carry out the terrorists attacks in Mumbai. 27 of the terrorists are Pakistani nationals belonging to the Lashkar.

These Pakistani terrorists disgorged themselves from the mother ship (which likely came from Karachi) 15-20 kms from shore in two/three rubber dinghies with OBMs. About 10 disembarked near the Gateway of India where the Taj Mahal hotel is located and the remainder near the Mumbai dockyard. The others who infiltrated through the neighboring state of Gujarat headed toward the other targets like the main railway terminus, Cama hospital, Nariman House, the residence of many Israelis, and other areas.

The Pakistani terrorists carrying AK-47s were armed to the hilt carrying big rucksacks and duffle bags containing small arms ammo, hand grenades, local currency, emergency rations, credit cards, satellite phones etc.

They disembarked from their boats at the Gateway of India near the Taj Mahal Hotel and proceeded to their respective targets in pre arranged/positioned transport like cars provided by local underworld cells. The nearer targets like the Taj were covered on foot. There were a total of about 10 targets that apart from the Taj, were Hotels Trident and Oberoi/Hilton, Café Leopold and the Main Mumbai Rail terminus, among others.

At the given time they commenced firing indiscriminately killing scores of innocent people starting from the Leopold Café and then into the surrounding areas creating a wave of terror. This group earmarked for the Taj quickly entered the lobby from the rear entrance, firing indiscriminately killing the receptionists and creating mayhem in the main lobby by throwing hand grenades. They then went up to the top floor and attempted to blow down the domes of the tower and set the Taj on fire.

At each location, the aim was to make international headlines by rounding up American, Israeli and British citizens whom they segregated and are holding hostage.

Marine Commandos, the National Security Guard (flown in from Delhi) Rapid Action Force, and finally the Army was called in and the time consuming action of searching and clearing each of the 650 rooms, kitchens, restaurants, basements etc of the Taj and Oberoi/Trident hotels had commenced by the morning of the 26th. The local police cordoned off the rail terminus and the other terrorist targets.

This operation could perhaps last into the night of the 28th. By 1100h IST 28th, as per reports, 9 suspected terrorists have been apprehended and 6 killed. The clearing ops at the Israeli centre, Nariman House, are in progress. NSG commandos were dropped by choppers ( Mi-17s) in the morning on the rooftop. There are approx 2-3 terrorists here who are holding the Rabbi and his wife hostage.

It is also being reported that a couple of terrorists were already staying at the Taj hotel couple of days before the attacks and had stocked adequate ammo and foodstuff to last at least a week!

This was a coordinated Fidayeen (Suicide) attack by motivated terrorists aided by local criminal underworld cells who provided the logistics. The terrorists had a one way ticket to hell as it seems they had no plan for extraction, though they were told to try and escape if and where possible.

Their aim? Possibly to swap the hostages they have taken for the hundreds of militants in Indian jails, though no demands have been made so far. To also create the maximum casualties and mayhem that would have a deleterious affect on the still booming economy of India, and burning down the historical landmarks like the Taj hotel. Or probably as a reaction to US attacks on terrorist safe havens on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan.

As per the interrogation of the apprehended Pakistani terrorists, it was planned, aided and abetted by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence, using the home-grown terrorist outfit the LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba).

The end game is now in sight. The terrorists would have been snuffed out much earlier had it not been for the hostages they have taken and using them as human shields.

Here's a streaming video of what's going on in real time, for those who are interested.

ibnlive.in.com...

Edit:

Breaking News

Indian Prime Minister speaks with Pakistan's President Zardari regarding involvement of Pakistani terrorists in the Mumbai carnage.



[edit on 28-11-2008 by mikesingh]

reply to post by mikesingh


Good stuff, man. If 27 of the 45 were Lashkar, any idea which group the other 18 belong to?
Where did you get the access to the interrogations?

After reading here how organized these guys were it really worries me with the current warning we got about the NY subways. Lets hope that nothing this coordinated happens tomorrow or through the holidays as the death toll would probably be much higher.

Thank you for all the great links and information provided so far!

IBN was saying an hour or so & the siege would be over...Taj seemed to calm down...now shots fired at GT Hospital & (Train?) Station...

It seems as soon as one area is tackled, the "go" is given for another cell to start back up in other parts of the city.

--Mixed reports of gun shots / confirmed police activity --
[edit on 28-11-2008 by thomasblackraven]

--Trains stopped... Activity at hospital...---
[edit on 28-11-2008 by thomasblackraven]

--IBN reporting it's all false alarm...---

[edit on 28-11-2008 by thomasblackraven]

fresh firing @ vt station and GT hospital....news channels reporting...but could be a false alarm

Other Places Reported:
Reserve Bank of India
Parsi Dairy Marine Lines
Metro Cinema

[edit on 28-11-2008 by bombay2611]

[edit on 28-11-2008 by bombay2611]

[edit on 28-11-2008 by bombay2611]

if the terrorists could blow the buildings it would have happened before hundreds were freed no?

Originally posted by Jay-in-AR
How about the lady that went missing during the attacks last night who's mobile phone has been tracked to Raigarh?

I wonder if her phone was taken by one of the 20 terrorists that escaped. If she has simply fled, I don't understand why she is nearly all the way on the other side of the country in just a short time without contacting her family.

Toi Sabina is the lady's name. I'm not sure who she is, but she sounds important. Anyhow, she went missing last night from the sixth floor of the Taj Hotel. Her room was found ablaze...
Her cell phone signal has been traced to Raigarh, which is quite a ways off to the East. Nearly to Bangladesh.
Well, it appears she is a food critic. Still weird though that her phone has been traced so far away and she hasn't called her family. If anything, her phone was taken by one of the escaping terrorists. On the move towards Bangledesh?

Does anyoneone have any sources for this, please?

reply to post by Alphard

This is the source for Sabina Sehgal case
Source

But please note that the Raigarh mentioned is not near Bangladesh but just 20km from Bombay towards south-east when travelling on water.


[edit on 28-11-2008 by bombay2611]

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


Well they did lose an amount of RDX that the police located , not sure if that was all they had . If they have more , I'm not sure they'll use it . I don't think they are ideologically motivated enough to do such a thing . It might have been the plan that they blow themselves to atoms along with the hotel(s) to make it look like they are 'al qaida ' and also therefore unidentifiable . They might have gone around shooting everyone at the start when they were all high on something as reports were saying about their appearance . But they aren't such killers anymore , not such martyrs , they shoot at the police is about it . Not really your AQ modus operandi at all . Pretending to be AQ .. a false flag , you got to do these things quick .. like the Israelis do , no bodies left for identification, no drawing the event out so you got assets hanging around having second thoughts and recriminations half way through .

Well Obama's plan was to have some type of crisis to go into Pakistan... ``to fight al-qaeda`` kind of BS...

And Brezinski, a main advisor for Obama is against Russia and China... now that their little friend Musharraf is no longer there, they must take back control, I mean, they didn't killed Bhutto for nothing.

NATO want control of Pakistan, period. It will either be nuked or controlled by NATO. They can't allow it to be a China friend.

That's why Somalia is also a potential target when Obama comes in and why they made all this fuss in the news about Somalia pirates, when we don't really care.

And to have RDX, they would have to have military relations or at least had acces to military explosives supplies.

[edit on 28-11-2008 by Vitchilo]

there was that british millionaire guy who was killed :S

Ok Im back!

So the Oberoi siege is finally over. Many dead bodies (up to 50) encountered in the restaurant, where they had been killed indiscriminately by the terrorists.

The storming of the Oberoi is supposedly over, and the NSG are in charge of the hotel fully now. There is still one terrorist left in the Taj.

I must say Im really surprised. I didnt expect the NSG to perform this well: No hostage casualties, only 1 NSG commando killed (bringing their total tally to 3 commandos over 30 years).

Im especially surprised because their tactics are so bloody bizarre when compared to the SAS et al.
I mean would you ever see an SAS soldier shooting like this?!



Really unusual SOPs. Maybe thats what made them so effective?

I'm back too! I totally expected this to all be over when I woke up this morning.

I'm just scouring the internet for updates as my TV news seems to still be showing mainly information from early yesterday afternoon. A few updateds on the TV but mostly old info.

Anyway, I just saw this on the BBC News Online but haven't seen it reported anywhere else so wondered if anyone else has confirmation of this:-

Claims that Britons were among the attackers in Mumbai are being investigated by the UK Foreign Office. The Indian news channel, NDTV, earlier reported that the gunmen had included "British citizens of Pakistani origin".

fresh firing @ vt station and GT hospital....news channels reporting...but could be a false alarm Other Places Reported: Reserve Bank of India Parsi Dairy Marine Lines Metro Cinema

So did the hootings at the GT and the station realy hapen?
News is not saying anything about it.

[edit on 28-11-2008 by raptorinvictus]

Fresh firing inside Nariman House.
How long can these guys endure for?


[edit on 28-11-2008 by raptorinvictus]

reply to post by raptorinvictus


Well if the new shootings at the station and hospital did happen then it's not being reported but maybe they're having another news black out?

I did see that they were blaming the reports on a metal detector falling over and causing panic at the station. There were reports that trains had been stopped mid route but then it was all declared a false alarm and no more coverage.