Massacre in Mumbai: Up to SEVEN gunmen were British and 'came from same area as 7/7 bombers'

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 11/28/2008 | Justin Davenport , Rashid Razaq and Nicola Boden

[1066AD]

Massacre in Mumbai: Up to SEVEN gunmen were British and 'came from same area as 7/7 bombers'

By Justin Davenport , Rashid Razaq and Nicola Boden Last updated at 5:39 PM on 28th November 2008

British-born Pakistanis among arrested militants

British-born Pakistanis were among the Mumbai terrorists, Indian government sources claimed today, as the death toll rose to at least 150.

As many as seven of the terrorists may have British connections and some could be from Leeds and Bradford where London's July 7 bombers lived, one source said.

Two Britons were among eight gunmen being held, according to Mumbai's chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. At least nine others are reportedly dead.

The eight arrested were captured by commandos after they stormed two hotels and a Jewish centre to free hostages today.

One security official said: 'There is growing concern about British involvement in the attacks.'

[1066AD]

Up to SEVEN gunmen were British

Now there's a surprise !

[muawiyah]

Yeah, I thought the Brits would eliminate interest in guns by banning them.

Guess that idea didn't work eh?!

[SMCC1]

My question is if they wanted to attack Westerners (and they asked for British and Americans I read) why didn’t they just pull something off in Britain? Why travel all the way to India?

[cripplecreek]

I hate the idea of targeting Brits for extra scrutiny when they enter the states but they have only themselves to blame.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Yup. Yorkshire (lived there). Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield are full are Pakis.

[elpadre]

by British they probably mean of those millions who hold dual citizenship, Britain/Pakistan or Britain/India. Both were former British colonies and their citizens are are free to migrate to England as that wish.

[ConservativeMind]

England is covered in CCTV. India isn’t

[tbw2]

Maybe British security was too strong.
Or maybe they thought striking in India meant less risk of backlash against their families in Britain.

[RGPII]

There was a guy here from Pakistan who I became acquainted with through a dinner meeting of an organization based on guess what? just an internet discussion group up here. He frothed at the mouth about Israel. Pakistan has too many of the real radical sects. Even if he had nothing against me as a Christian or American I would not care to have anything to do with him.

Some of the bombers and attempted bombers (remember there were two waves and one of the actions did not work out) if I remember correctly, had some Somalis and Ethiopian/Eritrean types as well.

[353FMG]

Will they be buried with full military honors?

[El Gato]

My question is if they wanted to attack Westerners (and they asked for British and Americans I read) why didn’t they just pull something off in Britain? Why travel all the way to India?

The "Brits" are just a small fraction of the total group. We don't know if they left Britain for this attack, or just went to Afghanistan or Pakistan for the Jihad in general, and were "assigned" to this op by the higher ups, whoever and wherever they might be.

[libh8er]

Calm: One of the young gunmen with his weapon, looking for more victims. Indian authorities say two of the arrested militants were British-born Pakistanis

Loss: Bollywood actor Ashish Chaudhary is consoled outside Mumbai's Trident-Oberoi Hotel after learning about his sister's death

Gone: US citizen Alan Scherr and daughter Naomi, pictured with his wife Kia, were killed in Mumbai's Oberoi hotel. They were in India with religious group Synchronicity Foundation, which was hosting a meditation program at the hotel

Terror: Indian special forces prepare to take back the Taj Palace Hotel in Mumbai

Air rescue: A commando drops to the roof of Mumbai's Jewish centre and below, officers span out ready to storm the building

[mylife]

Holy Crap!

Oh well, at least Britain got cheap vindaloo take away and lots of 3rd world doctors for the national health

[353FMG]

“..why didn’t they just pull something off in Britain? Why travel all the way to India?”

This was just a dry run before a bigger raid elsewhere. You can bet that, among the bystanders, there were many terrorists taking notes of what went wrong and what did go right. All this data will be used for planning purposes at the next raid.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

British ?
Hardly. They're the UK born children of wave after wave of Pakis let loose in Britain who have never assimilated, never engaged in constructive work and were always on the public dole.

[montomike]

Do you think they really care about their families?

[Proud_USA_Republican]

I’m sure the British will blame this on themselves because they haven’t adopted Sharia Law yet.

[mylife]

Mumbai is the heart of the west in India

[libh8er]

why didn’t they just pull something off in Britain? Why travel all the way to India?

To hurt foreign investment (primarily US) and western tourism in India.

[Enchante]

Chances are they were already in Pakistan, looking for trouble, and finding a jihad recruiter..... or they’d made contact in the UK and went to Pak. for “training” etc. If you’re one of the jihad grunts you don’t get to decide where your “operation” will be — they just tell you what they want to tell you until it’s time to start killing.

Lots of the UK-Pak dual citizens are in Pakistan at any given time. They didn’t necessarily ever know they were going to be doing an “operation” in India until the last instant. For OpSec probably none of the terrorists except the planners knew where this operation would be conducted.