Posted on 11/27/2008 12:59:42 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Mumbai - Militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked luxury hotels, hospitals and a famous tourist cafe in India's commercial capital Mumbai late on Wednesday, killing at least 86 people.
* WHO IS BEHIND THE ATTACKS?
Witnesses say the attackers were young South Asian men speaking Hindi or Urdu, suggesting that they are probably members of an Indian militant group rather than foreigners.
The attacks were claimed by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen in an e-mail to news organisations. Deccan is an area of southern India.
Analysts say that while it is not clear whether the claim is genuine, the attacks were most likely carried out by a group called the Indian Mujahideen.
The name used in the claim of responsibility suggests the attackers could be members of a south Indian offshoot or cell of the Indian Mujahideen.
* WHO ARE THE INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN?
Indian police say the Indian Mujahideen is an offshoot of the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), but that local Muslims appear to have been given training and backing from militant groups in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.
SIMI has been blamed by police for almost every major bomb attack in India, including explosions on commuter trains in Mumbai two years ago that killed 187 people.
Police said the Indian Mujahideen may also include former members of the Bangladeshi militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami.
* WHY ARE THEY SUSPECTED OF BEING BEHIND THE MUMBAI ATTACKS?
The Indian Mujahideen have made credible claims of responsibility for most of the recent major attacks on civilian targets in India over the past two years.
The Mumbai attacks appear to have been carefully co-ordinated, well-planned and involved a large number of attackers.
A high level of sophistication has also been a hallmark of previous attacks by the Indian Mujahideen.
The Mumbai attacks also focused clearly on tourist targets, including two luxury hotels and a famous cafe.
In May, the Indian Mujahideen made a specific threat to attack tourist sites in India unless the government stopped supporting the United States in the international arena.
The threat was made in an email claiming responsibility for bomb attacks that killed 63 people in the tourist city of Jaipur.
The email, signed by "Guru Al-Hindi", declared "open war against India" and included the serial number of one of the bicycles on which the bombs were left.
Witnesses in Mumbai say the attackers in Mumbai singled out Americans and Britons in their attacks.
* WHAT OTHER ATTACKS HAVE INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN CARRIED OUT?
The group first emerged during a wave of bombings in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in November 2007, sending an email to media outlets just before some of the bombs exploded.
Their next attacks were the Jaipur blasts.
On 25 July, eight small bomb attacks in the IT city of Bangalore on 25 July that killed at least one person and wounded 15. There was no known claim of responsibility.
But a day later, at least 16 bombs exploded in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, killing 45 and wounding 161.
Shortly before the blasts, an email in the name of the Indian Mujahideen was sent to local media warning that people would soon "feel the terror of death" in the name of Allah.
It said the attacks were revenge for the Gujarat riots of 2002, when around 2 500 people, most of them Muslims, were killed by Hindu mobs.
A later email accused several state governments of harassing, imprisoning and torturing Muslims and threatened consequences if they did not stop.
In September, at least five bombs exploded in crowded markets and streets in New Delhi, killing at least 18 people.
The Indian Mujahideen sent out an e-mail moments after the first blast in New Delhi, saying the explosions were to prove its capability to strike in the most secure of Indian cities.
* WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE MUMBAI ATTACKS?
All previous incidents in which the Indian Mujahideen are suspected of involvement involved co-ordinated serial bombs.
The Mumbai attacks also show clear signs of coordination but were carried out by gunmen, some carrying grenades.
The tactics - a military-style assault on soft targets, singling out foreigners, and taking hostages - are rare and do not fit the usual methods of militant attacks on civilian areas.
However, similar attacks have been carried out before, notably the May 2004 attacks in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar.
Gunmen attacked two oil industry installations and a foreign workers' housing complex in the city, taking more than 50 hostages and killing 22 of them.
The attackers asked hostages whether they were Christian or Muslim before deciding whom to kill.
well if you read some of the headlines this morning, they certainly make it sound like he has already assumed the Presidency.
so those idiots, who scream Bushitler ignored the Constitution in his pursuit of of bad guys and demanded it (the Constitution) be followed, now want to throw the Constitution out because it suits them???
ROFL..I wonder what it’s like to live in an alternate reality..
If the terrorist attacks had taken place before nov 4, do you think Senator McCain could have been elected instead of obama ?
The Democrats are allies of the terrorists. They want to set free the terrorists at Guantanamo.
The Somali pirate idea makes sense. The Indian Navy sunk one of their pirate ships and killed the pirates. This is payback. What should happen now is Indian warplanes should go in and bomb the pirates’ Somali villages, well-known pirate enclaves, and kill everyone.
I too was thinking Somali payback, but there is always a deeper involvement.
Nah, we all know that Muslimes are full of p*ss. To all — today Mumbai, tomorrow the city/town next to you. Muslimes cannot tolerate civilisation or order or happiness. They are the vermin lower than rats. To befriend one is to befriend scum
These terrorists are Pakis — look at the pictures, they aren’t Chechen. They’re from the source of most terrorists in the world — Pakiland, the land with the “Islamic nuclear bomb”
And remember that India is 2.3% Christian — Bombay itself will be 5 to 10% Christian, especially in the south near this place.
I figured it was Methodists - but could be LCMS....
Anyone exploiting, maiming, murdering others is vermin.
Just remembering some other madmen in recent history.
I seem to recall a maumau uprising long ago, remembering too Rwanda.
Here a list.
1. Amish
2. Mormons
3. Quakers
4. Salvation Army
5.Masons
But it couldnt be Muslims. That is the religion of peace after all and would even think about killing people without cause. After all, 9-11 was only a plot by the evil and stupid Bush Goverment to seize power and not hold elections for President.
That was my first thought. Now they are saying that western intelligence was expecting a spectacular AQ event. I'd stay vigilant here in the US. The SWAT teams were at Penn Station yesterday.
That is a moot point because back in 2001 this was planned by the Bushitler/Cheny cabal. Halliburton and Blackwater were already building the detention camps. This was in the works before they pulled off taking down the WTC.
bump...for discussion and comment
islamists
Dumbed down Americans are brain-washed to believe Islam is the religion of peace. Didnt learn a d*mn thing from 9/11.
What will it take for people to realize the Koran (Muslims consider every word in the Koran to be the sacred word of God) instructs them to kill us and take our lands?
80- 90 percent of the Koran is filled with hate, racism, bigotry and unimaginable cruelty.
The terrorists havent hijacked Islam. They are only followed instructions in the manual of murder and mayhem, the Koran.
THE KORAN PROMISES COUNTRIES TO CONQUER AND THE SPOILS THERIN:
Sura 33 And he bequeathed to you their lands, their homes and their possessions, together with land you have never trodden (33.27) .
MUSLIMS ARE INSTRUCTED IN THE KORAN TO BE STILL UNTIL THEY HAVE THE NUMBERS IN THE COUNTRIES THEY HAVE INVADED:
Be patient with unbelievers until you have strength (86.17).
THE KORAN INSTRUCTS MUSLIMS TO FIGHT CHRISTIANS, JEWS AND CONQUER THE WORLD FOR ISLAM:
(The following are only a few of the verses commanding Muslims to fight)
WARFARE IS ORDAINED FOR YOU, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that you hate a thing which is good for you and it may happen that you love a thing which is bad for you. (2.216)
Fight those among the People of the Book [i.e. Jews and Christians] ... who do not profess the true religion, until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued. (9.29)
AND FIGHT THEM UNTIL THERE IS NO PERSECUTION , AND RELIGION SHALL BE ONLY FOR ALLAH 2:193
Fight those among the People of the Book [i.e. Jews and Christians] ... who do not profess the true religion, until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued. (9.29)
Quran 9:33 ISLAM WILL PREVAIL OVER ALL RELIGIONS
THE FOUNDER OF CAIR HAS TOLD US PLAINLY OF ISLAMS plans for AMERICA:
ISLAM ISNT IN AMERICA TO BE EQUAL TO ANY OTHER FAITH, BUT TO BECOME DOMINANT. The Koran ... should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth. Everthing we need to know is in the Koran. We dont need to look somewhere else. OMAR M. AHMAD, CHAIRMAN OF CAIR,the mainsteam Muslim advocacy group.
Just how d*mn plain do the Muslims have to make it before we get it??
.
No, no, no.
Spin-off Mormon polygamist sub-cult.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.