Mumbai Attacks End in Bloody Gunfight, Taj Scene Described as ‘Totally Burnt’

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30 November 2008 :: J.E. Robertson

The three-day siege of Mumbai has come to a fateful, bloody end, leaving at least 183 dead and over 270 injured. The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, a 105-year-old landmark, the scene of the worst fighting, was described by one witness as “totally burnt”, with bodies bloodied and badly damaged by fire, strewn around. The attack began Wednesday evening as 8 to 10 gunmen reportedly landed in a small inflatable boat on a city beach, and proceeded to assault civilians at cafes and hotels, using high-powered automatic weapons and grenades.

The Indian government is blaming “elements in Pakistan” for the attacks, while the Pakistani government has pledged full cooperation to India and alliance with the American position on the need to eliminate such threats to Indian security. Pakistan’s own government faces security risks from violent fundamentalist factions within its borders, as would appear to be demonstrated by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, former leader of the party now in power in Pakistan.

According to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, as based on testimony from an eyewitness who was on the beach when the attackers came ashore:

On their backs were blue rucksacks, and in their hands red carry-bags heavy enough to cause one of the smaller men to stumble. They were students, they said, when he asked what they were doing: ‘They told me that they were tense and that they didn’t need any more tension.’

But some estimates suggest as many as 40 attackers in all —11 gunmen were killed, one captured, reports of others are largely unconfirmed— were organizing around the city, gathering weapons and fanning out to kill as many people as possible in coordinated attacks across Mumbai. Three days later, Mohammad Ajmal Mohammad Amin Kasab, a 21-year-old Pakistani and one of those who came ashore in the rubber dinghy, is the only known terrorist to have been taken alive by Indian security forces.

It is expected that one way or another, his capture will lead to more solid information about the origins of the attacks. Concerns that his Pakistani origin could lead to a dangerous escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan. Indian officials, American officials, and numerous news agencies are suggesting a possible link to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a radical militant group reputed to have past links to Pakistani intelligence, but which has long been seen as completely beyond the influence of Pakistan’s authorities.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is not an arm of the Pakistani government, and Indian officials have pulled back from blaming the government of Pakistan, working to secure agreements on intelligence and security cooperation. But tensions are on the rise, popular anger against Pakisan is setting in, and an editorial in the Times of India has declared bluntly “It’s war”. India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh has pledged to bolster the nation’s security forces and take a more aggressive security posture, in order to protect against any possible looming additional threat.

AFP reports that “The attacks saw the militants strike multiple targets —including a railway station, a hospital, a restaurant popular with expatriates, two hotels and a Jewish centre usually packed with Israelis— in rapid succession.” The 137-year-old Leopold Café in Mumbai, where at least 10 people were killed in an onslaught of grenades and gunfire, as the attacks began, defiantly reopened on Sunday, while thousands reportedly demonstrated for peace and security outside.

One of the most startling aspects of the bloody three-day siege of Mumbai has turned out to be the number of reports suggesting Indian authorities had numerous threat-risk warnings regarding this attack. According to CNN and other sources, US intelligence officials warned Indian authorities that hotels in Mumbai and possibly Delhi could come under attack. Local security officials in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh also reportedly warned Indian officials that hotels in Mumbai could come under attack.

The Taj Mahal Palace hotel itself, scene of mass carnage, explosions, raging fires and intense gunbattles, during the recent siege, reportedly had intensified its security preparation, for two months, in response to warnings. The Taj then reportedly loosened its security measures last week, when no attacks came.

There are also reports emerging that an intelligence warning was given to Indian authorities that they should be prepared sometime this fall for “an attack from the sea”, a possible reference to the small inflatable that came ashore at Fisherman’s Colony in Mumbai on Wednesday. According to Agence France Presse:

Indian intelligence sources told AFP that eight of the Islamic militants involved in the attack had arrived in Mumbai a month ago. They rented a house and conducted “extensive reconnaissance missions.”

There were also believed to be other infiltrators who stockpiled arms and ammunition, including in one of the two luxury hotels that were attacked.

The stockpiling of weapons was allegedly the key to the attackers sustaining the siege for so long, before being overwhelmed by Indian security forces. Several security analysts suggest a risk in responding to the Mumbai attacks, beyond the escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan, would be the diversion of Pakistani forces from the fractious west of the country, where Taliban and al-Qaeda militants aim to take control, to the east along the Indian border.