Mumbai: India's new terror capital?

UPDATED

NEWS: The siege of India's financial, commercial and entertainment capital, Mumbai, continues. The city is likely to be shut down for the second consecutive day.

A set of eight or nine coordinated attacks on the city's landmarks  -- including the Taj and Trident-Oberoi hotels, a Jewish center (Nariman House), a train station, an upmarket restaurant and a hospital for women and children -- has claimed over 125 lives and injured over 300. The final toll is likely to rise.
The gunmen used AK-47s (or MP-6s?) and grenades to take hostages at at Nariman House and both the hotels, where guests include several foreign nationals.

NSG (National Security Guard) commandos and police continue to battle it out in the two hotels and at Nariman House.

CNN reported yesterday that the terrorists may have specifically targeted American and British passport holders. Similar reports from IBN (CNN's sister network in India). A Wikipedia entry is also keeping an update. No news of American deaths yet.
 
An unknown group called Deccan Mujahideen has claimed responsibility in an email. "Deccan" refers to the plateau region of southern India, so it doesn't mean much right now. One security officer told reporters that they had intercepted communication among the militants. The officer claims they were speaking in Punjabi (spoken in some parts of India and Pakistan) but were later identifying themselves as residents of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. [The Indian Hyderabad --- largely Muslim-dominated --is in the Deccan plateau in southern India. The local language there is either Telugu or a dialect of Urdu/Hindi, which is said to be uniquely Hyderabadi. If there's any truth to these findings, the militants want people to think they are Indian and home-grown. That may also explain the "Deccan" part of the claim? Who knows!].

The GM of the historic Taj Mahal Palace, lost his family -- wife and kids-- in the attack.

State Department has set up an information hotline for people who want news about friends and family in Mumbai: 1 888 407 4747

There are also reports that India has asked the FBI to help out with forensic and investigation and has called in a rescue team from Israel. [NOTE: I heard this on CNN but am not able to find a link. This may prove wrong, so take it with a pinch of salt.] If this is true, I wonder if...:

a) India has realized it is ill-equipped at dealing with forensic and evidence gathering (at last!), and its intelligence has failed.
b) It wants the U.S. to see first-hand how such attacks go down and who is responsible, so in future they don't brush off India's allegations as finger-pointing.
c) India realizes we can't deal with terror by ourselves.

Mumbai, what happened?

Mumbai, the city of dreams, finds itself in an unenviable situation in remarkable times. A city -- which has attracted people from all over to follow their ambitions --- has also been a center of violence and anger, some of it very local. From as far back as I can recall -- and that would be around 1992-93, Mumbai has been caught in a cycle of violent attacks:

March 1993: A series of 13 bomb blasts ripped through the stock exchange and other buildings, killing over 250 people. The attack was alleged to have been masterminded by an underworld don (who, India insists, is living a luxurious live in Pakistan) to avenge the communal violence that claimed hundreds of lives lives, particularly Muslim, after a controversial mosque was demolished by Hindu radicals in December 2002.
August 2003: Two powerful bomb blasts kill over 50. One of the bobs explodes in a taxi parked outside the Taj Mahal Hotel (yes, the same one as the current attack) near the tourist-heavy Gateway of India. India blames Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives for the attack, the same group that operates in the northern state of Kashmir. LeT's name is doing the rounds again.
July 11, 2006: Powerful bomb blasts in seven commuter trains -- Mumbai's lifeline for millions traveling to work every day -- claim over 200 lives. The same group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was blamed for the deadly strikes:

The city lived through several more major and minor bombings. 

The city has also witnessed, from time to time, violence against immigrant labor from other states -- a odd show of anger in a city that is home to people from all over then nation. In more recent times, one such group stirred up local emotions against immigrant workers from other states, demanding that "outsiders" keep off the state.

To keep the loop of violence going, investigation into another recent blast, threw up names of some radical Hindus and even army personnel. The irony is, the man spearheading these investigations, is also head of the Anti-Terrorism Squad, and was killed yesterday in one of the several gun battles still on. Hemant Karkare was shot dead during an encounter at the Taj Hotel.

The attack couldn't have come at a worse (or better) time: the general elections are scheduled for next year, and some states -- including disputed Kashmir -- are going or will go to the polls soon. Given the spate of violent terror attacks in India in the last five months, terror has to be the poll platform.

But it's time this ceased to be only an election issue: we need a national terror plan that puts aside regional and political divisions. Nita's post voices my thoughts -- and so of may Indians, I am sure -- best:

The fact that scores of terrorists invaded Mumbai last night (some say by the sea route) and have taken hostages in five places in the city shows that our country, our Intelligence department, and our police have no clue at what is going to hit them next. The police, the ATS, the Intelligence, all are in the vice like grip of the politicians, who are more interested in infighting. As I wrote in my previous post politicians play games rather than show any interest in tackling terror. And I am sure that the blame game and bickering will start again. Don’t these anti-national politicians realise that all parties need to come together to fight against this war on our country?

No doubt, the resilience and success of Mumbai, the city of great contrasts, is enviable, making it an obvious target. I am sure the city will bounce back. I hope it does so, and soon. But for how long can a city take so much?

Twitter is abuzz with constant updates (Thanks Erin!). Karen Ballum pointed me to MumbaiHelp, a blog that is doing a round-the-clock updates with helplines.

On a personal note: As I reached out to friends and family in Mumbai to ensure their safety, the news of a former senior colleague from The Times of India going missing at the Taj Hotel came in. Sabina Sehgal Saikia, who I remember as the Editor of Delhi Times, was in a luxury suite on the sixth floor of the hotel. She reportedly send text messages to her husband and friends. She also send an SMS to the Taj staff saying "They are in my bathroom", before her suite reported caught fire.
She is still missing. She has two teenage children.

Sabina, we all want you home, safe. We are waiting and praying.

More bloggers are keeping tabs.

Sonia Faleiro shares her experience from close to the Gateway of India
Amit Varma, of India Uncut, was right there. He is alive and blogging.
Arun Shanbhag is documenting this chaos
Imtiaz Ameen's blog
Ultrabrown (A POST BY A MUMBAIKAR)
Mutiny
NYT Blog
Venu's photostream on Flickr

More news coverage from India at:

Eyewitness account of an encounter on Marine Drive, Rediff.com
DNA
Indian Express
Hindustan Times
The Times of India
Mumbai Mirror
NDTV
CNN-IBN
BBC