Everyone must have noticed these lunatic attacks in Bombay on the news.
What the hells going on, why are they doing this?
The Indian Muslims got their own country, Pakistan. So what are they after now. Another piece of the cake?
And why do some major news channels call the place Mumbai?
as of 9 am EST, there were still hostages being held in the Taj and another luxury hotel, as well as in some Jewish neighbourhoods. according to the wiki, it might all be over: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26_Nov..._Mumbai_attacks
The group claiming responsibility is named Deccan Mujihadeen, though interviewed terrorism experts said that they have never heard of the group before. Deccan refers to a geographical area in India.
When the hostage takers called the media to request to speak to the government, the reporter said the man had a Kashmiri accent, for what that is worth.
There is always the chance that the name is a cover for another organization, and the "al qaeda" accusations are already flying. The targeting of Americans and Brits seems to follow a Jihadist pattern, but that isn't proof of anything, as Indian police have concerns about radical Hindu nationalism.
Also heard that their agenda is to push for a "pan-Islamic state" in Indian, though with all the confusion and half-truths since this is still recently new, who knows who they really are and what their motive is/was.
apparently the wiki page (for the attacks) was applauded in the mainstream press for being the quickest to have updates and the most complete coverage. I found this with the mohammed cartoon issue as well. Totally unrelated, aside from it being interesting.
As a total non-expert, I'd say it seems likely that it was an Islamist group, and I'd even go so far as to say they are likely native Indians with more nationalistic than religious motives (if put in a religious narrative, ie "pan-islamic").
I could be totally off, but the implication of this being a trans-national group with links to, OMFG, Al Qaeda seems too, umm, convenient? (if that word makes sense).
Like with the red Mosque thing, and the accusations of "Al Qaeda opperatives" inside along with the other "hostage takers" (god what a confusing incident that was). Likely those people, and the attackers in India, have connections ideologically and maybe even directly to Al Qaeda, yet the idea that this is an Al Qaeda operation, or has Al Qaeda influence, is probably irrelevant. Like the bombers in the UK, they might just slap the name Al Qaeda on like a brand name to get more attention. Saying you are in cahoots with Bin Laden is an instant credibility boost.
watching videos of Bin Laden or al-Zawahiri, they appear to hate Indians just as much, if not moreso than Westerners.
I think you bring up an excellent point. Were these typical Jihadi attacks, there would be more indiscriminate killing (although over 90% of the victims appear to be Indian) rather than the targeting of foreigners.
Potentially they are trying to reduce tourism income from Mumbai, or I heard an analyst say that these hotels and tourist locals are very much icons to local Indians, so there may be more symbolism to the attack than just influencing tourists to stay away from India.
Damn, and I just started a thread about terrorists. I don't think it's hard to take over a ship, either. Or like you said, random bombs on trains in NY, which they are looking into. It's only a matter of time, I think. You can't secure everything.
Yes, though plenty of people still call it Bombay and the names have been pretty much interchangeable in the press here. Technically speaking it is not for a country to demand what other people call its cities- or even its own country.
I live in England, not Angleterre, London and not Londres. I call it Germany and not Deutschland.
Sometimes you are just stuck with what other people call your places.
As a further example, the stock exchange that got closed because of these attacks is still known as the Bombay Stock Exchange internationally.
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Last edited by Ushgarak on Nov 28th, 2008 at 11:32 AM
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But you say you live in Chelmsford
No, but it's quite right, in some cases it's just necessary, as the language might commonly not be able to deal with the pronunciation of a place. Or it might be ambigous how to spell or pronounce it. And even then, if a place has been called something for a very long time and it just changed relatively recently, you will probably not get the majority of people to change what they called a place in just a bit.
Though, on the other hand, such News Reports using the new name, enforce the new name, and it therefore might take hold in time in the general population.
I guess I should say the new "official" name, though.
I heard on a radio interview that this is probably a Pakistani Military backed operation, the Pakistani government apparently have problems controlling the Military.
If this turns out to be the case, with evidence then it could escalate rapid fashion. And as Deja~vu already mentioned, these are countries with Nuclear capability.
As for the name change, its weird that the German & Spanish news still refer to it as Bombay, mind you they refer to Myrnamar as Burma, some countries are slow at catching on it would seem.
I wonder if my favorite TV watching snack "Bombay mix" has also been renamed as well.
The new pakistani government is not as anti-india as previous ones, and has made large motions toward india and the west.
There may be connections to members of the military and intelligence service, but the Pakistani government has enough problems with militants themselves.
from Al Jazeera
I'm very skeptical of the Pakistan link, and I do not think a nuclear standoff is likely. I really think it is a local group.
As of a BBC report like 10 min ago, the Oberon hotel is now under army control. There are still a couple of gunmen in the Taj, with potentially many hostages. From what they were saying, this will take a while as the commandos have to secure every room in this huge ass hotel. Also, still a standoff at the Jewish center.
The problem is if these sort of attacks continues what can they do about it. Pakistan is next to Afghanistan and India being a massive countries with mountainous areas for a border by Pakistan, itīs not very difficult for lunatic groups to get through.
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Nov 27th, 2008 05:33 PM
