Nov 26 2008
Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai Claim Dozens of Lives
According to the New York Times, horrific terrorist attacks rocked the city of Mumbai earlier today. Using machine-guns and grenades, the perpetrators targeted a movie theater, the city’s largest train station, several five-star hotels, and even a hospital. Mumbai is India’s center for commerce.
“Even by the standards of terrorism in India, which has suffered a rising number of attacks this year,” writes Somini Sengupta, “the assaults were particularly brazen and drastically different in scale and execution. The attackers used boats to reach the urban peninsula where they hit, and their targets were sites popular with tourists.”
According to local law enforcement officials, at least 82 people are dead and 240 are injured. It must be stressed here that these figures were taken from preliminary reports, and the number of casualties may increase as the investigation into the attacks proceed.
“Guests who had escaped the hotels told television stations that the attackers were taking hostages, singling out Americans and Britons,” Sengupta continues. “A previously unknown group claimed responsibility, though that claim could not be confirmed. It remained unclear whether there was any link to outside terrorist groups.”
The Mumbai police also report that the high-class Oberoi Hotel and the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel were in flames hours after the attacks began. “Gunfire and explosions rang out well into the night,” writes Sengupta. “Guests banged on the windows of the upper floors as firefighters worked to rescue them.”
Several high-profile guests, including members of the European Parliament, stayed hidden in their hotels during the hideous ordeal and made desperate calls to television networks from their cellphones.
Source: The New York Times
This really is a horrific ordeal. Thanks for the post! ~k
No problem! I hope Obama handles this issue better than Bush did. No more invasions of countries that never attacked us!
This, sadly, has as much to do with an anti-progress mentality as anything else. In the past year, nearly every major city in India has been subject to a terrorist bombing. They’re seeking to destroy every aspect of modern society, so this is a global problem as well as a local one.
Excellent post,
Cheers
There was a very good interview on CNN by Larry King of a guy that said that the true extent of this is global, and if India were to do the right thing, it would not lay blame on Pakistan, but would ask Pakistan to help determine the roots of this.
I know that you don’t like the “interventionist” kind of diplomacy, but this is a classic case of when it may become necessary.
Both Bush and Obama have indicated that where we have targets in Pakistan and the authorities in Pakistan either refuse to act, or do not, the US WILL act, and attack those targets.
This guy was saying that that the other billion and a half muslims need to step up and not only condemn these types of attacks, but need to begin to clean their own house and rid the world of these kinds of extremists.
This is critical, because of the nature of these guys, they hide within innocent populations and depend upon that to shield themselves from attack. It is critical that the other muslims clean their own house, because if they do not WE WILL, and we have a right to do so. Their own way will be easier on innocents than ours will, as we will have less knowledge of which are which, but we still need to defend ourselves.
It really seems that India is pointing the blame for these latest attacks at Pakistan. Let’s pray for unspun, complete facts to come out of any and all investigations before any retaliation takes place.
I do agree that India needs to work constructively with Pakistan to solve this problem and not just point the finger. That sort of thing doesn’t get anyone anywhere. And while there is no doubt in my mind that the vast majority of Muslims are good, kind, decent people, they really need to crack down on these extremists and the clerics who support these heinous acts.
While i believe that much of our foreign policy has contributed to the rise in terrorism, there is no excuse for this kind of crap. R, i don’t know if actually going into Pakistan militarily would help (or just inflame the situation even further) but i agree we have to do something. It may be that going into Pakistan may be just what we have to do. I pray that it doesn’t come to that.
I don’t see how we can avoid it. Pakistan is in danger of becoming a failed state. Can we afford that to happen to a nuclear armed country?