Mumbai attacks similar to 1993 New York

The meticulous planning and execution of the Mumbai terror attack, which has left the country's security agencies scurrying for cover, might not be as original as it is presumed to be, because of its eerie resemblance to the 1993 New York Landmarks Plot, hatched by Al-Qaeda.

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When compared to an Osama bin Laden's then-relatively new terror group's plot to target prominent hotels and landmarks in Manhattan that was uncovered 15 years ago, the audacious last week's attack looks like a re-play of the same. According to US-based private Intelligence company, Stratfor, in July 1993, US counter-terrorism agents had arrested eight individuals later convicted of plotting an elaborate, multi-stage attack on key sites in Manhattan. 'The militants, who were linked to Osama bin Laden's then-relatively new group al Qaeda, planned to storm the island armed with automatic rifles, grenades and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). In multiple raids on key targets combined with diversionary attacks, they aimed to kill as many people as possible,' the firm's latest report on Mumbai terror attack said. The planned attack, which came to be known as the Landmarks Plot, called for several tactical teams to raid sites such as the Waldorf-Astoria, St. Regis and UN Plaza hotels, the Lincoln and Holland tunnels and a midtown Manhattan waterfront heliport servicing business executives and VIPs travelling from lower Manhattan to various New York-area airports. The militants carried out extensive surveillance both inside and outside the target hotels using human probes, hand-drawn maps and video surveillance. Detailed notes were taken on the layout and design of the buildings, it stairwells, ballrooms, security cameras and personnel all reconnoitered,' the report said. It said the attackers intended to infiltrate the hotels and disguise themselves as kitchen employees. 'One attack team planned to use stolen delivery vans to get close to the hotels, at which point heavily armed, small-cell commando teams would deploy from the rear of the van. Stationary operatives would use hand grenades to create diversions while attack teams would rake hotel guests with automatic weapons. The attackers planned to carry gas masks and use tear gas in hotel ballrooms to gain an advantage over any security they might come up against. They planned to attack at night, when the level of protection would be lower, it said. The targeted hotels, the report said, hosted some of the most prestigious guests in Manhattan, like in the case of the hotels targeted in Mumbai. 'These could have included diplomats like the US Ambassador to the United Nations, who traditionally keeps an apartment in the Waldorf-Astoria, or even the US Secretary of State, who is known to stay at the Waldorf during UN Sessions. They also host various business leaders. If successful, the attackers doubtless would have killed many high-profile individuals key to New York's stature as a center for financial and diplomatic dealings, it said. Stratfor said at the time, US counter-terrorism officials deemed that the attack would have had a 90 per cent success rate. Disaster, then, was averted when federal agents captured the plotters planning the Landmarks attack, thanks to an informant who had infiltrated the group, it said. The intelligence firm said that Mumbai terror attacks closely followed the script of the New York plot. 'The similarities between the Landmarks plot and the November 26 Mumbai attacks are quite obvious. In symbolic terms, as the Mumbai attacks unfolded, many onlookers said that an attack on Mumbai is to India what an attack on New York is to Americans. 'In more concrete terms, the targets, methods, weapons and geography involved were similar (if not identical), and the unconventional style of the attacks points to a common author,' it said. Outlining that Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are known to return to past targets and plot scenarios, the private intelligence company says that the Mumbai attack had al Qaeda brand written over it. The country's counter-terrorism forces had then detained Landmarks plot mastermind Ramzi Yousef in 1995, who remains in US federal prison. Listing out the similarities in the method and targets and surveillance carried out in both New York plot and Mumbai terror attacks, Stratfor said the similarities suggested that Ramzi Yousef and other early al Qaeda operatives who helped prepare the Landmarks plot in New York authored the Mumbai plan. 'Considering that the militants launched their original attack from Karachi, Pakistan, and the previous involvement of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, which has connections with al Qaeda leaders in western Pakistan, it is very likely that al Qaeda in Pakistan at least provided the blueprints for this attack. It also added, 'Ultimately, the biggest difference between the Landmarks plot and the Mumbai attacks is that the Mumbai attacks succeeded. The failure of the Landmarks plot probably provided key lessons to the planners of the Mumbai attacks, who were able to carry out the stages of the attack without detection and with the full element of surprise.'

As siege ends, Mumbai mourns its dead

A commando shows the victory sign from a window of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai on Saturday morning, soon after the siege of the hotel ended.

9 terrorists killed, one arrested; 20 security personnel among 183 who lost their lives

MUMBAI:

The raging fires and fierce gun battles came to an end on Saturday morning as the city came to grips with one of the worst terror attacks it has ever faced. Sixty hours after terrorists took over the landmark Taj Mahal hotel, the massive operation by the National Security Guard (NSG) came to a close around 8.30 a.m. on Saturday. Four terrorists were killed and the hotel is being “sanitised.”
A total of 183 people lost their lives in the attacks — 20 security personnel, 141 other Indians and 22 foreign nationals. The number of injured persons has been put at 327.
The heavily armed terrorists could have killed at least 5,000 people in Mumbai, said Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil. They were so heavily armed and so well prepared that the damage could have been catastrophic, he added.
Nine terrorists were killed and one arrested. The arrested person, Mohammed Ajmal Mohammed Amir Kasab, was remanded to police custody till December 11.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said there was no evidence that two of the terrorists killed were British Pakistani nationals. The nationalities of the terrorists were being ascertained.
The final leg of the Taj operations began around 3.35 a.m. on Saturday with a wave of five explosions and heavy firing. A few minutes later, the combat got more intense as seven powerful explosions rocked the hotel within a span of 90 minutes. The firing too became heavy and incessant. Two huge fires engulfed rooms of the first and second floors and firefighters got into the action.
After the fires were doused, it appeared the end was in sight. Later, J.K. Dutt, who was in charge of the NSG operations, told the media that the operation had come to an end as the remaining three terrorists were killed. One was shot dead on Friday.
He said 22 bodies had so far been removed from the Taj, and work was still in progress. The body count could be much higher.
The city is far from normal and the horror of the terror attack continues to haunt its citizens. The Trident and Oberoi hotels, the scene of fierce gun battles and blasts, were cordoned off by the police and the Rapid action Force, while cleaning up operations are under way. Chairperson of the Oberoi Group P.R.S. Oberoi said that while Trident was sanitised, he still could not enter the Oberoi.
Police and security agencies have taken over the Nariman House, where terrorists were holed up for over two days.
Mr. Deshmukh said the whole city was relieved that the three major anti-terror operations were over. He said the State had written to the Centre for an NSG battalion till it could raise one of its own.
About 350 NSG and 400 police personnel worked for three days on end to bring the situation under control. There was no hostage situation and no demands were made by the terrorists, the Chief Minister pointed out.

101 killed, security forces battle terrorists in Mumbai

Fire engulfs a part of the Taj Hotel in Mumbai.

Mumbai (IANS) ;NOVEMBER 27 ,

Fresh gunshots rang out on Thursday morning at the Hotel Taj in Mumbai where security forces battled terrorists holding hostages after a night of terror attack that left 101 people dead and over 250 injured.

As soldiers, police and elite commandos fanned out across the country's commercial capital to rescue hostages and kill terrorists who stormed the city at night and struck at seven sites in the business hub of south Mumbai, one of the terrorists claimed that the attack was to avenge the "persecution" of Muslims in India.

The otherwise bustling city -- home to Bollywood -- was still on edge, more than 12 hours after a large but unknown number of terrorists armed with automatic rifles and grenades sneaked into Mumbai by the sea, a clear indication that they must be foreigners.

Desperate to cope with a situation they had never encountered before, the authorities declared a holiday in Mumbai Thursday. The Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange were ordered closed for the day.

"This is a most audacious attack. It is a very serious situation and gun battles are still on in at least three places," said Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh as leaders around the world denounced the well-planned terrorist operation.

Television footage showed some terrorists, wearing dark colour T-shirts and holding automatic rifles, near some of the buildings under attack. One of them, who called himself Shahadullah, telephoned the India TV channel from Oberoi-Trident Hotel, which too was stormed, to claim that he was from the Indian city of Hyderabad but he spoke in Hindustani with what appeared to be a Pakistani accent.

He told the channel that the attack had been carried out to avenge the 1992 razing of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya and the "persecution" of Muslims in India. He demanded the release of jailed Indian Mujahideen militants in exchange for tourists taken hostage at the Taj and Oberoi Trident hotels as well as Nariman House in the heart of the city.

The man ended the telephonic conversation saying "Allah Hafiz".

The terrorists began targeting high profile landmarks close to the sea and popular with Western tourists from between 10.15 and 10.30 p.m. Wednesday. The targets included Hotel Taj, Hotel Oberoi-Trident, Metro Theatre and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) railway station.

A grenade was also hurled at a taxi in Vile Parle, destroying it and killing its occupants, and one more attack took place at Mazgaon, a Mumbai suburb. A police van was hijacked.

Panic set in quickly all over the city, which has seen several terror attacks in the past. The outwitted police took them on but suffered losses initially. Among the first to die was Hemant Karkare, the highly regarded Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief heading the controversial probe into bomb attacks in Maharashtra blamed on Hindu radicals.

Among his four colleagues who were also believed to be killed were Additional Police Commissioners Ashok Kamte and Sadanand Date and Mumbai Police officer Vijay Salaskar who was known as "encounter specialist" for killing gangsters.

As police reinforcements rushed to the attack sites, backed by the hurriedly summoned paramilitary and Indian soldiers, 200 commandos of the National Security Guards (NSG) were flown from New Delhi. The NSG is trained to take on terrorists.

The security forces killed two terrorists and caught nine. But within a short time, a huge blast was heard on the top floor of the Taj Hotel and a raging fire erupted. Smoke billowed from there even Thursday.

The situation appeared to be somewhat under control Thursday, with police officers herding several tourists from the two hotels into ambulances and police vehicles to move them to safety. Yet there was no word on how many foreigners were dead but one Western woman -- her nationality not known -- was reportedly killed at Hotel Taj.

Maharashtra Director General of Police A.N. Roy said: "The terrorists have fired indiscriminately."

Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Ghafoor said AK-47 and AK-56 as well as semi-automatic rifles besides grenades were used in the "coordinated terrorist acts". On Thursday, a five-kilometre radius in south Mumbai, which covers business districts such as Colaba, Cuff Parade, Nariman Point and Churchgate, was cordoned off.

Train services resumed in Mumbai Thursday but there were few passengers. There were few vehicles on the roads.

A nationwide alert was sounded following the synchronised attacks that came less than a month after over 50 people died in serial terror bombings in the northeastern state of Assam.

Across the world, governments and top leaders denounced the terror attack in Mumbai.

US president-elect Barack Obama asked Washington to work with India to root out and destroy terrorist networks worldwide. The State Department said the US stands ready to support the Indian authorities in dealing with the situation.

"Obama strongly condemns today's terrorist attacks in Mumbai," Brooke Anderson, his spokesperson on national security, said in statement. "These coordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave and urgent threat of terrorism."

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "Such violence is totally unacceptable." Canada and the European Union too condemned the brazen display of terror.