Attacks in Mumbai in 2008

The different crime scenes

The attacks in Mumbai in 2008 in the south of the Indian metropolis of Mumbai on November 26, 2008 resulted in numerous murders, explosions and hostage-taking at various locations within a short period of time. This uniformly coordinated act was carried out by a group of ten attackers who had split up into several teams on site and who apparently targeted tourist and Jewish facilities, including two luxury hotels. The assassins were led by backers from Pakistan during the attack.

Nine of the perpetrators could not be killed by the police until the evening of November 29th after fierce fighting, some of which lasted several days. Another perpetrator, Ajmal Kasab , was arrested. According to official figures, 166 people were killed and 304 injured in the attacks. Ajmal Kasab was sentenced to death by an Indian court and executed in 2012. There were further proceedings on the matter in Pakistan and the USA. The attack is attributed to the Pakistani terrorist group Laschkar-e Taiba (LeT). State participation by Pakistan is controversial.

The attacks are known internationally and in India mostly mumbai 26/11 attacks or 26/11 attacks for short .

background

Mumbai had seen many more attacks since the March 12, 1993 bombings that killed 257 people. The 1993 attacks were intended to "retaliate" for the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya .

On December 6, 2002, the 10th anniversary of the destruction of the Babri Mosque, a detonation in a BEST car next to the Ghatkopar stop killed two people and injured 28 others. On January 27, 2003, the day before Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit, a bicycle bomb killed one person near the Vile Parle stop in Mumbai and injured 25 others. In March 2003, one day after the tenth anniversary of the bombings in Bombay, a bomb exploded on a train next to the Mulund stop. Ten people died and 70 were injured. On July 28, 2003, a detonation in a BEST bus in Ghatkopar killed four people and injured another 32. On August 25, 2003, two bombs exploded in southern Bombay, one next to the Gateway of India and another at the Zaveri Bazaar in Kalbadevi . At least 44 people were killed and 150 injured. On July 11, 2006, seven bombs exploded within eleven minutes on the S-Bahn in Bombay. 209 people, 22 of them foreigners, were killed and more than 700 injured. According to the Bombay police, the bombing raids were carried out by Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

A group of 24 (according to other sources 26) men were trained in naval warfare in a remote camp in mountainous Muzaffarabad , Asad Kashmir , Pakistan . Part of the training allegedly took place in a camp near the Mangla Dam .

The newcomers were indoctrinated by Islamist propaganda, including pictures of alleged acts of violence against Muslim fellow believers in India, Chechnya and Palestine . They took part in a so-called Daura Aam course, which, in addition to teaching methods of terrorist methods, also teaches thorough combat training. They also took part in a course called Daura Khaas in a camp near Mansehra . A smaller group was trained in command training.

Ten of these students were selected for the attacks. In addition to the use of high-end weapons and explosives, they were also taught how to swim and sail. Former soldiers of the Pakistani Army and officials from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are said to have regularly accompanied the training. The assassins were also given blueprints for all four targets - Taj Mahal Palace & Tower , Trident Oberoi , Nariman House and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus .

procedure

Arrival of the perpetrator

According to statements by the surviving terrorist, the ten perpetrators left the Pakistani city of Karachi in a small boat on the morning of November 22, 2008 and were transferred to a larger boat within the next hour on which supporters of their mission were located. They then penetrated Indian waters, where on the evening of November 23, 2008, off the coast of Jakhau, some 582 nautical miles from Mumbai, they found the Indian trawler M.V. Captured Kuber and took control of the five Indian crew members. Four of them were taken on the Pakistani boat, with which the accomplices drove back to Pakistan. The Indian captain was forced to steer the MV Kuber with the ten terrorists on board towards Mumbai.

On November 26, 2008 around 4 p.m. local time, they stopped about 4 to 5 nautical miles off the coast and contacted their backers or accomplices, who informed them of the killing of the four Indian seamen. After they murdered the Indian captain and launched a rubber dinghy with an outboard motor they had carried with them , they covered the rest of the way with it and reached the coast of Mumbai in the Badhwar area on November 26, 2008 between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Park or the business district of Cuffe Parade.

On land, the assassins split into five groups of two attackers each and proceeded to their specified targets. Each of the attackers wore civilian clothes and carried an 8-10 kg hexogen- based explosive device with them in a backpack. In addition, they each had Kalashnikov- type assault rifles , as well as pistols and hand grenades of Pakistani origin. Communication with one another was ensured via mobile phones . It later became known that the perpetrators had also been provided with information about the current situation by backers from Pakistan who followed the news channels during the attacks.

Platform hall of Victoria Station, histor. Photo (Mumbai Central Station - Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus)

Cama & Albless Hospital for women and children

Nariman House / Chabad House

Interior view of the Cafe Leopold

Train station / hospital

A team consisting of Ajmal Kasab and Ismail Khan had a taxi take them to the busy Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station . During the trip they deposited an explosive device in the vehicle, which later exploded on the Express Highway opposite the City Swan Club in the Vile Parle district, killing two people. When they arrived at the station, they went to the toilet facilities, deposited another explosive device and then attacked the crowds in the station hall and on the platforms with assault rifles and hand grenades from around 9:50 p.m. Images from a surveillance camera showing Kasab in the train station with an assault rifle and a slung bag went around the world. 52 people were killed and 108 injured in the attack. Four police officers were among those killed.

After the perpetrators left the train station, they walked to the nearby Cama & Albless Hospital , where they murdered two guards and three other people, and took several employees hostage. Four people were injured. A police unit led by Sadanand Date succeeded in engaging the attackers in a skirmish and thus enabling the hostages to escape. Two police officers were killed and six others injured. The two perpetrators then left the hospital and went to Badruddin Tayabjee Lane , where they murdered another police officer.

From an ambush, the perpetrators then shot at an arriving police van, killing six officers. The victims included Hemant Karkare, head of the Mumbai Counter-Terrorism Unit, Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte and Senior Inspector Vijay Salaskar, killing three of Mumbai's leading police officers. A seventh policeman, Arun Jadhav, survived seriously injured in the loading area. Kasab and Khan removed three of the dead from the cab and drove the police vehicle down Metro Cinema Square , shooting seemingly indiscriminately at passers-by. The gunfire killed a policeman and a passerby in the Metro Junction area . In the area of Usha Mehta Square , the perpetrators changed vehicles due to a tire damage and hijacked an oncoming car, with which they continued their journey on the coastal road NS Purandare Marg .

Arun Jadhav had meanwhile informed the operations center about the car and the direction of travel of the perpetrators, whereupon they could be placed at a road block in Girgaum Chowpatti. After a brief exchange of fire that killed another police officer, Ajmal Kasab and Ismail Khan were overwhelmed. While Khan succumbed to his gunshot wounds at the point of arrest, Kasab was the only one of the Mumbai assassins to be captured alive.

Nariman House / Chabad House

Another team, consisting of Babar Imran and Nasir, aka Abu Umar, broke into the five-story Nariman House in Colaba Wadi on November 26th between 9:45 pm and 10:25 pm , which had been owned for two years at that time a Jewish Orthodox organization and was renamed Chabad House . Previously, the perpetrators deposited an explosive device at a gas station on Shahid Bhagatsingh Road and in the car park area of Chabad House . The perpetrators took several hostages and contacted the media, with India TV publishing the conversations with the hostage-takers.

The perpetrators murdered the Israeli rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, the American rabbi Leibish Teitelbaum, and five other people, including two Israeli citizens. Seven people were injured. The 51 Special Action Group of the National Security Guard was discontinued in the early hours of November 28 by helicopter on the roof of the building and stormed the plant, where 14 other people were freed. In the course of the following battle, both perpetrators and the commando soldier Gajender Bisht were killed.

Cafe Leopold

Founded in 1871 by Iranian immigrants, Cafe Leopold on SBS Road in Colaba is a well-known tourist destination that locals also like to visit. The two terrorists Abu Shoaib and Abu Umer allowed themselves to be transported to the location by a taxi, leaving one of their explosive devices behind in the vehicle. This later exploded in Mazagaon, killing three people and injuring 19 others.

The two perpetrators began their attack between 9:30 p.m. and 9:40 p.m., shooting assault rifles into the café and throwing hand grenades. After the attack, in which eleven people, including a German couple, were killed and 28 injured, the perpetrators walked to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel , where they deposited their second explosive charge at the Gokul restaurant . However, this was defused by the police.

Taj Mahal Palace Hotel

The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel

Oberoi Hotel, 2005

The luxury hotel, which has existed since 1903, forms a landmark that can be seen from afar and was reached by the terrorists Hafiz Arshad and Javed alias Abu Ali by taxi on November 26 between 9:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. The two perpetrators entered the hotel through the main entrance and opened fire on guests and employees in the lobby. An explosive charge deposited in front of the entrance was later defused by the police. The two terrorists Abu Shoaib and Abu Umer, who had previously carried out the attack on Cafe Leopold, entered the hotel a short time later via a northern side entrance.

For the next 60 hours or so, the terrorists moved through the extensive grounds of the hotel, consisting of hundreds of guest rooms and numerous other service areas. The perpetrators broke into the rooms and shot everyone present, threw hand grenades, set off their last explosive charge on the fifth floor and set fire to the upper floors. Photos of the burning hotel became an international symbol of the Mumbai attacks.

In locked rooms they pretended to be hotel employees or police officers and are said to have forced employees to persuade guests to open the room doors for their supposed rescue. These shocking events were portrayed in the 2018 film Hotel Mumbai .

It was not until the morning of November 27 that commandos from the "MARCOS", a special unit of the Indian Navy, entered the hotel, followed by around 100 commandos from the National Security Guard, who reached the hotel on November 27 at around 9:30 am. The hotel was extensively surrounded, snipers covered the action of the commandos and the fire brigade began to extinguish the fires using turntable ladders. The security forces were not able to hand the hotel over to the local police as secured until 6:00 p.m. on November 29. The four perpetrators were surrounded in one of the rooms in the old building in hours of fighting and were finally shot or killed by explosive charges. In the hotel itself, 36 people were murdered and 28 injured. Among the dead were a police officer and commando Sandeep Unnikrishnan .

Hotel Trident Oberoi

The fifth terrorist group, Fahadullah and Abdul Rehman Chhota, broke into the luxury hotel Trident Oberoi on Marine Drive at around 10:00 p.m. on November 26 and opened fire from assault rifles, hand grenades were thrown and two explosive charges were in the entrance area and in front of one of the restaurants ignited. The perpetrators then holed up with several hostages on the upper floors and could not be killed by the special forces until the evening of November 28th. 35 people were killed and 24 injured in the Hotel Trident Oberoi.

Victim

Victims by origin

nationality	Deceased	Injured
India	140	283
United States	4th	2
Israel	4th	0
Germany	3	2
Australia	2	2
Canada	2	2
France	2	0
United Kingdom	1	5
Japan	1	1
Malaysia	1	0
Mexico	1	0
Italy	1	0
Netherlands	1	0
Singapore	1	0
Thailand	1	0
Mauritius	1	0
Oman	0	3
Jordan	0	1
Philippines	0	1
Poland	0	1
Spain	0	1
Total	166	304

According to the official final report, 166 people were killed and 304 injured. Among those killed were 26 foreigners, 18 of whom were killed in the two hotels alone, as well as 18 security guards. 21 foreigners and 33 security guards were injured. One of the victims was a dual Israeli / US citizen. He is on the list among the victims of Israel.

The European fatalities were the 46-year-old French woman Loumia Hiridjee, founder of the Paris fashion company Princesse tam.tam , and her 49-year-old husband Mourad Amarsy, a 68-year-old German and his 50-year-old wife, as well as the German media entrepreneur and local politician Ralph Burkei . Furthermore, the 73-year-old British businessman and millionaire Andreas Liveras, a 63-year-old Italian employed by a Swiss financial company, and a 57-year-old Dutch man who worked for a Belgian company died.

39 security forces were honored for their work during the attacks. Six of those killed were posthumously honored by President Pratibha Patil with the Ashok Chakra medal, India's highest military honor in peacetime , in January 2009 .

Joint Commissioner Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte and Inspector Vijay Salaskar were senior police officers in Mumbai. They rushed to the aid of their colleagues at the Cama Hospital to prevent the perpetrators from entering the clinic again. All three were ambushed upon arrival and shot.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Tukaram Omble threw himself unarmed at a roadblock on the terrorist Ajmal Kasab and tried to disarm him and prevent him from further shelling his colleagues. In the scuffle, Omble was finally fatally injured by a shot fired from the Kasab assault rifle. Thanks to Omble's personal engagement, more officers were able to approach Kasab and eventually overpower Kasab without using any further firearms.

Havildar (Sergeant) Gajender Bisht of the 51 Special Action Group was one of the first commandos to break into Nariman House / Chabad House and was fatally injured in the fight with the terrorists. Through his work he had made a decisive contribution to the liberation of 14 hostages.

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan of the 51 Special Action Group led the storming of the old building in the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, where he was able to free 14 hostages. When his men were ambushed, he was left alone on the contested floor and thus secured the evacuation of a wounded comrade. He was killed in an exchange of fire while attempting to storm a room occupied by terrorists.

Investigations

Connection to Pakistan

Numerous items were seized on the MV Kuber and from the terrorists, including hygiene articles, food and luxury items, fuel containers, clothing, pistols and hand grenades made in Pakistan. The outboard motor for their inflatable boat was made in Japan and exported to Pakistan. The detonators of the defused explosive devices were labeled in the Pakistani national language Urdu . A GPS device found on the MV Kuber enabled the terrorists' route to be traced. Their cell phones had been delivered to Pakistan from China.

The surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab testified extensively about his recruitment and training in Pakistan after his arrest while still in hospital and later in court. He said he was from Faridkot, Okara District , Punjab Province . He and about 30 other young men had been trained extensively in Laschkar-e Taiba (LeT) training camps in Muridike , Mansehra and Muzaffarabad . Thirteen of them were selected for the attacks in Mumbai, of which six were then withdrawn for operations in Kashmir. Three newcomers to the group would have increased the number of later assassins to 10. They were informed of their attack targets from mid-September 2008 and were then isolated from the outside world in Karachi. Kasab identified senior LeT members as planners and organizers of the attack, including LeT leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi as the driving force behind the attacks.

An email was sent to the Indian media with a letter of confession from a previously unknown organization called Deccan Mujahideen . However, the IP address could be traced back to Zarrar Shah, who is considered the head of the technology and media department of the LeT, via a proxy server in Russia. A number was also dialed via a satellite telephone used by the perpetrators, which could be assigned to the leading LeT member Abu al-Qama. The former police commissioner of Mumbai, Rakesh Maria, even voiced the thesis that the terrorists were presented as Hindus by the media after their death due to their forged Indian IDs with Hindu names and the forged letter of confession , which could have sparked civil unrest. As a further indication of this, he named the red ribbon on the right wrist of the arrested Ajmal Kasab, a common symbol among Hindus that people trust in the blessings of the divine triad and ensure their support.

On December 3, 2008, John Michael McConnell , director of the US intelligence services, announced that the LeT was responsible for the attack. On December 9, 2008, Indian police released the identities of the nine people who were killed.

Those behind the attacks used IP telephony (VoIP) to keep in touch with the terrorists on the ground. In October 2008, a Kharak Singh from India opened an account by email with the VoIP-based service Callphonex from New Jersey , USA. Payment was made by an international transfer via MoneyGram , from a Mohammed Ashfaq from Pakistan. Callphonex then assigned the account a virtual number with a US country code, which had been leased to Callphonex by a Belgian company . Kharak Singh requested five numbers with Austrian direct dialing via the provider , which were forwarded to the respective recipient when a call was made via the virtual US number. The calls made from Pakistan should appear like those from the USA. The perpetrators in Mumbai, in turn, dialed the Austrian numbers from Indian numbers in order to reach the respective backers in Pakistan. A second money transfer was made in November from Italy via Western Union from a Javed Iqbal with a Pakistani passport. This payment was transmitted to Callphonex and communicated by Kharak Singh via his email address. A request from the US company as to why the transfers would come from Pakistan when it was from India went unanswered. During the attacks, the Indian security forces were able to intercept and record calls to the US number and also those to the Austrian numbers.

In the first week of 2009, the Indian government stated that November 26th could not have happened without the support of elements of the Pakistani state. A list was published with the names of 35 Pakistanis who were involved in the attacks.

Response from Pakistan

According to the Indian authorities, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had announced and wanted to initiate serious educational work , but were "thwarted" by the military leadership under Ashfaq Parvez Kayani , which has actual power in Pakistan. India also tried to put pressure on Pakistan through third countries, especially those who suffered victims in the attacks. For example, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Pakistan and India in December 2008 .

The LeT has been on the US terrorist list since 2001 and was officially banned in Pakistan in 2002, but continues to be active through its front organization Jamaat ud-Dawa (JuD), which is one of the largest aid organizations in Pakistan and therefore has strong support across the board Parts of the population enjoy. In 2005, the United Nations Security Council designated the LeT as an al-Qaida- related terrorist organization. After the attacks in Mumbai in December 2008, the JuD was added to this list.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik finally confirmed on February 13, 2009 that the attack in Pakistan had been planned. It had previously been confirmed on January 7, 2009 that Ajmal Kasab would be a Pakistani citizen. Government involvement in the attack was rejected. In April 2012, the US offered a $ 10 million reward for information that could lead to the conviction of LeT chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed for terrorism. In August 2012, LeT member Sajid Majeed was added to the US Treasury's list of global terrorists.

On August 3, 2015, former FIA chief Tariq Khosa, who oversaw the Pakistani side of the Mumbai investigation, published a comment in the English-language magazine Dawn . In this he said, among other things, that Pakistan had to deal with the chaos in Mumbai, which had been planned and started from its soil. This requires facing the truth and admitting mistakes. The entire state security apparatus must ensure that the perpetrators and masterminds of the terrible terrorist attacks are brought to justice. The case took too long. Delaying tactics by the defendants, frequent changes of trial judges and the murder of the case prosecutor as well as the withdrawal of the original statements of some important witnesses were serious setbacks for the prosecutors .

Several people have been arrested or placed under house arrest, including LeT leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and LeT founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. Lakhvi was released on bail in April 2015 amid protests from India and the US for lack of evidence. The LeT-JuD organizational structure was only officially banned by the Pakistani government in February 2018 after the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering threatened to downgrade Pakistan to the "blacklist", which primarily meant that the country would borrow Financial markets. Pakistan had put forward a comprehensive 26-point action plan to curb funding for militant groups, including the JuD.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was arrested in July 2019 after being under house arrest several times and sentenced to two five and a half years in prison in February 2020 for financing terrorism.

In January 2021, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was arrested again in Pakistan on suspicion of financing terrorism.

More convictions

In India, Syed Zabiuddin Ansari, who allegedly communicated and given instructions to the terrorists in Mumbai during the attacks, was sentenced to life imprisonment in August 2016.

In January 2013, David Headley , an American of Pakistani descent, was sentenced by a Chicago court to 35 years' imprisonment, with the earliest possible release after 30 years. The son of a former Pakistani diplomat and an American, born as Daood Gilani, was arrested in October 2009 and confessed in March 2010 to having participated in training sessions in LeT training camps between 2002 and 2005. His name change and his US passport made it possible for him to scout out the later attack targets for the LeT.

Also in October 2009, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, was arrested in Chicago. He is said to have helped David Headley, with the help of his travel agency specializing in emigration, to travel to India in order to spy out the attack sites. In addition, the two had planned an attack on the editorial offices of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten because they had published the controversial Mohammed cartoons . The Chicago court saw it as proven that Rana supported the terrorist organization LeT from the end of 2005 to October 2009, and was also involved in a conspiracy to attack the Danish newspaper from October 2008. He was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment in January 2013.

Connection to the Pakistani secret service

According to a report published in June 2019 by the International Center for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) , which examined the results of several international police investigations and dozens of analytical studies triggered by the attack, three perspectives of a possible involvement of the Pakistani military intelligence service Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI ) or the Pakistani military .

The strongest opinion in India is that it is a government-sponsored covert operation by the Pakistani intelligence service. A second opinion, which is more common among American and European analysts, is the limited view that “renegade elements” within the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, were involved in the attack. Finally, there is the interpretation favored by Pakistani officials, according to which no state actors were involved in the attack in Mumbai. The Pakistani and Indian sources reflect national prejudices, but converge in the basic reporting of facts. Differences usually arise in questions of interpretation.

In June 2001, the Pakistani magazine Newsline published a report accusing a wing of the ISI known as the "S-Wing" of instigating domestic terrorism. The report suggested that during the 1988-99 democratic interlude when civilian prime ministers ruled the country, the army-instructed ISI had used Islamist proxies to discredit them. It has long been suspected that such elements initiated a massacre of extremist Sindhis in the city of Hyderabad on September 30, 1988 . Mainly people from the Muhajir minority , descendants of refugees who emigrated from India in 1947, were killed. The next day, the Muhajirs retaliated against innocent Sindhis in Karachi , breaking the efforts of civilian politicians to form a united front against the then-in-power military regime. During the following decade, rumors continued that the ISI was supporting breakaway factions within mainstream parties and providing them with weapons to fight one another. Officials from other security agencies in Pakistan sometimes joined in with these rumors.

After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , an international investigation was conducted into the alleged support of the ISI for militant groups. In view of the increasing suspicion, the ISI-CT (CT: Counter-Terrorism) was founded in 2006 at the behest of the USA and financed with CIA funds, which was to be responsible as a directorate for counter-terrorism in Pakistan and to establish contact with Western colleagues.

The American scholar Stephen Tankel described the ISI-CT as an element perceived by the Pakistani Security Institute as an “externally sponsored orphan” with a limited mandate and from the more powerful “S-Wing”, which oversees intelligence and security operations outside of Pakistan incumbent, constrained and undermined. Western scholars, researchers and journalists such as Robert Johnson, David Ignatius , Thomas E. Ricks , Siegfried O. Wolf, Shaun Gregory and Steve Coll support the Indian claim that the Mumbai attack took place with at least some degree of prior knowledge by the ISI . Journalists Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy wrote that Osama in their book The Exile: The Stunning Inside Story of Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Flight ( ISBN 1-4088-5876-2 ), citing two leading members of the LeT bin Laden traveled to Mansehra in 2008 to attend an extraordinary meeting for the Mumbai operation on November 26, 2008. This meeting was overseen by the "S-Wing" of the ISI and sponsored by al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden's property in Abbottabad is said to have been built on land acquired from LeT. In addition, documents confiscated during the raid by the US command that killed bin Laden ( Operation Neptune Spear ) establish that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed had corresponded with the al-Qaeda chief until his death.

David Headley had testified to the US authorities that he had been trained in intelligence techniques by the ISI and was funded by an ISI officer whom he referred to as "Major Iqbal" and LeT member Sajid Majeed, alias "Sajid Mir". The ISI also referred him to the LeT. He also claimed that the ten attackers were trained by former members of Pakistani special forces. He also revealed a possible motive for the attack to Indian investigators: the LeT had been confronted with internal cracks in 2007–2008, as younger cadres wanted to break away from the group due to their subservience to the ISI. In order to unite the LeT under a "malleable" leadership, some S-wing members seem to have arranged an offensive against India in order to bring respect for the LeT within the Pakistani jihadist community and to prevent further defections. This reputation was supposed to be increased by the attack on foreigners. With the death of all ten attackers, any connection to Pakistan would have been denied.

In addition to the extensive statements of the surviving assassin Ajmal Kasab and co-conspirator David Headley, the statements of Zabiuddin Ansari, who was also involved in the attack, contributed to establishing a connection with Pakistan and possible backers. Ansari, an Indian jihadist, fled from India to Pakistan in 2006 and taught the ten attackers sentences in Hindi . The idea was that during the attack they would call Indian TV news channels and make political statements. Using Mumbai-specific slang, the LeT hoped, would confuse listeners as to their actual nationality and make them appear indigenous. Ansari also alleged that the weapons and ammunition used in Mumbai were provided by the ISI and that ISI officers were present in the LeT control room in Karachi during the attack. An ISI major named Sameer Ali, identified by Ansari in this regard, had also been named by Headley as the ISI officer who referred him to the LeT.

State involvement in the attack was rejected by Pakistan. The names of the alleged ISI officials mentioned by Headley and Ansari do not appear in the Pakistani reports. All major developments in this case were sparked by information shared either by Western security agencies or by India. High-ranking American officials had stated in their memoirs that ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha had blamed "apostates" for the attack to the Pakistani ambassador in Washington. Mumbai was not an ISI operation.

Other effects

From an economic point of view, the attack had no serious effects. The heavily frequented Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station was reopened a few hours after the attack and the Mumbai Stock Exchange also resumed operations after being closed for around a day. Shortly after the attacks, the flow of tourists fell by around 10 percent, only to rise again to the pre-attack level in mid-2009. Less than a month after the attacks, the two hotels Taj Mahal Palace and Trident Oberoi were also reopened to guests.

The Goa parties on the beach, which are particularly popular with tourists in the state of Goa , were temporarily banned for fear of further attacks.

After criticizing the crisis management, Interior Minister Shivraj Patil resigned and the previous Finance Minister P. Chidambaram took over . At the urging of his party, the Chief Minister Maharashtras Vilasrao Deshmukh also resigned. To improve security, the coast guard has transferred the coastal protection to the navy. In addition, the establishment of regional branches of the National Security Guard, primarily intended for the fight against terrorism, and the establishment of a National Investigation Agency specializing in terrorism were ordered. India also started talks with Germany, France, Israel, Great Britain and the USA to intensify cooperation in the area of ​​anti-terrorism.

The attacks resulted in a ban on the use of satellite phones in India without the prior and express permission of the Ministry of Telecommunications. The ban also extends to Indian territorial waters. In the event of an infringement, the owner faces criminal prosecution and the device may be confiscated. The Indian government therefore recommends travelers not to bring satellite phones to India.

swell

• The 2008 Mumbai Terrorist Attack , Strategic Fallout (RSIS Monograph, 116 pages)
• Mumbai Terrorist Attacks , Federation Of American Scientists Full Report (72 Pages)
• High Court of Judicature at Bombay , Full Supreme Court Report (1208 pages)
• A Decade on from the 2008 Mumbai Attack: Reviewing the question of state-sponsorship , Report of the International Center of Counter-Terrorism (June 27, 2019)

Movies

• Victoria Midwinter Pitt: Surviving Mumbai, documentary, 2009.
• Anthony Maras (director and collaboration DB): Hotel Mumbai , 2018, feature film, Australia, USA; Original languages: English, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Russian, Persian
• Saat des Terrors , investigative feature film, 2018, director: Daniel Harrich (Grimme Prize winner).
• Trace of Terror - The Documentary , by Daniel Harrich, The Story of the Mastermind of the Attacks, US Secret Agent David Coleman Headley, Das Erste, premiered November 22, 2018.

Web links

Commons : Attacks on November 26, 2008 in Mumbai  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

 Wikinews: Series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India cost many lives  - news

• Multiple extremist attacks in Mumbai, India kill dozens, injure hundreds in the English-language Wikinews

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 1993: Bombay hit by devastating bombs , March 12, 1993, BBC
2. ^ Victims await Mumbai 1993 blasts justice , Monica Chadha, September 12, 2006, BBC
3. ^ Blast outside Ghatkopar station in Mumbai, 2 killed , rediff.com India Limited. December 6, 2002. Retrieved August 19, 2008. 
4. ↑ 1992: Mob rips apart mosque in Ayodhya , BBC. December 6, 1992. Archived from the original on December 7, 2008. 
5. ↑ 1 killed, 25 hurt in Vile Parle blast . In: The Times of India , January 28, 2003. Archived from the original on August 19, 2007. 
6. ^ Fear after Bombay train blast , BBC. March 14, 2003. 
7. ^ Vijay Singh, Syed Firdaus Ashra: Blast in Ghatkopar in Mumbai, 4 killed and 32 injured , rediff.com India Limited. July 29, 2003. Archived from the original on January 23, 2009. Retrieved on August 19, 2008. 
8. ↑ 2003: Bombay rocked by twin car bombs , BBC. August 25, 2003. 
9. ^ For the record: The 11/7 charges sheet , rediff.com India Limited. July 11, 2008. 
10. ↑ Dwight Hamilton, Kostas Rimsa: Terror Threat: International and Homegrown Terrorists and Their Threat to Canada . Dundurn Press Ltd., November 19, 2007, ISBN 978-1-55002-736-5 , p. 103.
11. ↑ 'Rs 50,000 not enough for injured' , Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd. . July 21, 2006. 
12. ↑ India's 26/11: From Communal Violence to Communal Terrorism to Terrorism , Editorial, K. Jaishankar, International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences, Vol 2 Issue 2 July - december 2007, 2007, (IJCJS) ISSN  0973-5089 Vol 2 (2 ): 5-11
13. ↑ India police: Pakistan spy agency behind Mumbai bombings , CNN. October 1, 2006. 
14. ^ Mumbai Police blames ISI, LeT for 7/11 blasts . In: The Times of India , September 30, 2006. Archived from the original on August 19, 2007. 
15. ^ Rhys Blakely: City fears five terrorists are missing . In: The Times , December 2, 2008. Subscription required 
16. ↑ Maseeh Rahman, Jones, Sam: Rumors abound as inquiry begins its search for truth . In: The Guardian , December 1, 2008. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. 
17. ↑ ^{a b} A journey into the Lashkar, Praveen Swami, The Hindu . December 2, 2008. 
18. ↑ Rama Lakshmi: Details Emerge From Sole Arrested Gunman . In: The Washington Post , December 3, 2008. 
19. ^ Ex-US Official Cites Pakistani Training for India Attackers . In: The New York Times , December 3, 2008. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved on December 4, 2008. 
20. ↑ Mumbai's 26/11 heroes awarded Ashok Chakra Hindustan Times
21. ↑ Ashok Chakra Awarded to 26/11 Heroes Outlook India
22. ↑ tagesschau.de: Pakistan: Suspected terrorist organizer arrested. Retrieved January 2, 2021 . 
23. ↑ wienerzeitung.at: Pakistan: Suspected mastermind of the Mumbai attacks arrested. Retrieved January 4, 2021 . 
24. ↑ Traveling to Goa - dancing prohibited Süddeutsche Zeitung of December 22, 2008
25. ↑ Faz.net on December 1, 2008: Further resignation after the terror series in Bombay.Retrieved on November 21, 2012
26. ↑ Satellite phones in India: A big no-no
27. ^ Restrictions on the use of Satellite Phone
28. ↑ Satellite phones in Indian Waters
29. ^ Ban of use of Thuraya / Irridium satellite phones in India