'Mumbai attack shows new sophisticated face of terror'

NEW DELHI: The brazen attacks in Mumbai signal a sea-change in the Islamist militant violence that has beset India, showing sophisticated planning and an "anti-Western agenda,"analysts say.

Militants stormed a series of high-profile targets late Wednesday in India's financial capital, including the iconic Taj Mahal Palace hotel, a landmark restaurant, the main train station and a charitable hospital for women and children.

They killed more than 125 people and seized scores of hostages, targeting specifically Britons and Americans.

"The sheer scale and planning involved is markedly different from previous attacks, it's a watershed attack,"

Singapore-based security analyst Rohan Gunaratna, author of the book "Inside Al-Qaeda" said.

Previous assaults in India have involved planting bombs in public places such as busy markets or on trains as in 2006 when Islamist militants staged serial attacks on Mumbai's congested rail network, killing 186 people.

The attacks targeted civilians "with the intention to foment unrest between Hindu and Muslim communities," said Jane's Country Risk analyst Urmila Venugopalan.

India, an officially secular country of more than 1.1 billion people, is majority Hindu and has a population of 113 million Muslims.

But "the apparent focus on killing or capturing foreign businesspeople, specifically US and UK nationals, has never occurred (in India) before, suggesting a wider global anti-Western agenda," said Venugopalan.

The militants, whom Indian authorities said numbered about 25 and were armed with assault rifles and grenades, specifically sought out US and British citizens as hostages, according to witnesses.

The Israeli embassy in New Delhi also said 10 to 20 Israelis, possibly more, were among the hostages. They included a rabbi who was taken hostage when the militants seized a Jewish cultural centre in Mumbai.

A previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for the attacks, triggering speculation they might be linked to the Indian Mujahedeen, which had sent emails claiming responsibility for four attacks it said it staged between November 2007 and September 2008.

But a senior Indian military official said late Thursday the young militants who strode into hotels with their faces bare came from Pakistan.

India frequently accuses Pakistan of sheltering guerrilla groups which have launched attacks against Indian targets despite Islamabad's strong denials.

Analysts said the tactics used in Mumbai appeared to be inspired by those of Al-Qaeda or groups linked to Al-Qaeda, such as the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Lashkar, which was blamed for the 2001 attack on India's parliament that brought the nuclear-armed neighbours close to war, is fighting Indian rule in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir.

"Al-Qaeda has become a shorthand word to claim the cause of radical Islam, it's more of a brand than an integrated corporation," said Robert Ayers, a security expert at British international affairs think-tank Chatham House.

"It's going to take a while to determine who are responsible. But it has all the characteristics of an Al-Qaeda attack -- multiple strikes across multiple areas," Ayers said.

"The thing that makes it unique is the taking of hostages. But that has increased the publicity, they get international media exposure, taking hostages involves other nation states," he added.

"This was an extremely well-planned operation, the logistics, the timing. The operational planning was very, very professional," he said.

Businessman Ratan Tata, whose tea-to-steel Tata Group owns the Taj hotel, said the gunmen "seemed to know their way around" the building.

Amit Chanda, head of the Indian Subcontinent practice of Risk Advisory, also said it appeared the attacks were carried out with an anti-Western aim with the militants' "deliberate selection" of foreign hostages.

"This (attack) is a statement about India's relationship with the UK, the US and Israel," Chanda said. Israel is India's second-largest arms supplier.

"There has been a trend for countries that have suffered a major attack to describe it as their own 9/11, for example, the Spanish after the 2004 Madrid train bombings or the Pakistanis after the Marriott bombing in Islamabad," Chanda said.

"I think this attack, because of its audacity and brazenness, will be remembered as 'India's 9/11,'" he said.

Terror attack on Parliament {Pics}

2001 Indian Parliament attack

On December 13, 2001, five gunmen infiltrated the Parliament House in a car with Home Ministry and Parliament labels. [2] While both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha had been adjourned forty minutes prior to the incident, many Members of Parliament (MPs) and government officials such as Home Minister LK Advani and Minister of State (Defence) Harin Pathak were believed to have still been in the building at the time of the attack.[1] (Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Opposition Leader Sonia Gandhi had already left). The gunmen slammed their vehicle into the car of the Indian Vice President Krishan Kant (who was in the building at the time), got out, and began firing their weapons. The Vice President's guards and security personnel shot back at the terrorists and then started closing the gates of the compound. The lady constable Kamlesh Kumari was first to spot the terrorist squad. One gunman, wearing a suicide vest, was shot dead, the vest exploding. The other four gunmen were also killed. Five policemen, a Parliament security guard, and a gardener were killed, and 18 others were injured. [3] No members of the government were hurt.

2001 Indian Parliament attack

ATTACK BY PAKISTAN-BASED TERRORISTS
ON PARLIAMENT HOUSE ON 13.12.2001
Chronological sequence of events

(Note: Timings are approximate and only main events are given in rough sequence)

	Terrorists enter Parliament House at about 11:40 AM in a white car
	Terrorists drive towards Building Gate no.11 (Rajya Sabha entrance).
	Shri J.P. Yadav, Security Assistant, Rajya Sabha tries to stop the incoming vehicle. Hit by terrorist bullets, he is killed instantaneously outside Building Gate no.12
	Terrorists’ car hits the parked cavalcade of Vice President of India and is challenged by security staff Terrorists open fire on security staff at Building Gate no.11 at about 11.42 AM Shri Matbar Singh Negi, Security Assistant, Rajya Sabha is hit by a terrorist bullet outside Building Gate 11 as he tries to stop the terrorists. Despite being hit, he manages to close Gate no.11 and raises the alarm, leading to all Gates being closed. He later succumbs to his injuries
	Terrorists gun down 6 other police personnel and one civilian and run towards Gate no.1, firing their weapons
	One terrorist shot by CRPF armed police at Building Gate no.1. Explosives on his body explode.
	Remaining four terrorists run back and move towards Building Gate no.9 firing indiscriminately.
	Three of the terrorists are killed by CRPF police outside Building Gate no.9
	The fifth terrorist is killed in encounter outside Building Gate no.5

IC-814: at Kandahar, a shame story

A Flight 814 The Chronology of Events · IA Flight 814 takes off from Kathmandu at 1615 (IST) hours on December 24, 1999. Air traffic control is reported as asserting that shots were heard on the plane. · The five armed hijackers make pilot Captain Saran divert the plane over Lucknow and head for Lahore in Pakistan. · The Lahore airport authorities refuse to permit the aircraft to land, forcing it to head back to Amritsar, India. · The plane lands at Amritsar where the hijackers demand that the aircraft be refueled. The airport is sealed off. · The airport authorities send over a tanker for refueling, but due to some problem they seek that the aircraft be brought closer to the tank. · After a 25-minute wait, the hijackers make the aircraft take off by killing a passenger, Mr. Katyal and head for Lahore, with just enough fuel for the trip. · India persuades the Pakistani authorities to permit the aircraft to land. · Lahore airport is sealed off. · The aircraft nearly crash lands and is surrounded by Pakistani commandos. · It is refueled and headed for Kabul. But because of the lack of night-landing facilities there, and later, at Kandahar, the plane is diverted towards Dubai. · It finally lands at the Al-Minhat air force base. The hijackers demand food, medicines and a step ladder since none is available. · The UAE officials agree to negotiate if the women and children are allowed to disembark. · The hijackers release 25 passengers, and allow the body of Mr. Katyal to be released to the UAE authorities. · Early on December 25, 1999 morning, the flight takes off from Dubai for Afghanistan. At 0855 hours, it lands at Kandahar. · Senior Indian officials opened talks with the hijackers to secure the release of hostages. · Hijackers demand release of 35 other jailed terrorists besides Mohammad Masood Azhar and US $200 million for the release of 154 hostages. · Later hijackers dropped their demands for a $200 million ransom and the exhumed remains of Afghan terrorist Sajjad Afghani. · Passenger were released on December 31, 1999 after Government of India releases 3 terrorists. · January 6, 2000: Hijackers have been identified as Pakistani nationals with links to ISI, an intelligence organization of the Pakistan Government.

Al Qaeda hijacked IC-814 to Kandahar, says Osama's former guard Islamabad | September 17, 2006 Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda hijacked Indian Airlines jetliner IC-814 to Kandahar, Afghanistan, on the Christmas eve of 1999 to secure the release of Pakistani militant Maulana Masood Azhar. Abu Jandal, a former guard of Osama bin Laden said this in a one and a half hour documentary aired on Al-Jazeera Television, reports the Daily Times. According to the guard, bin Laden welcomed Maulana Masood Azhar after his release following negotiations between the Indian government and the hijackers, and threw a lavish party in his honour. "After two or three days, bin Laden invited Azhar to a lavish party, thrown in his honour, where I was introduced to him. I was astonished to discover that Azhar and Bin Laden already knew each other," Jandal said. He further said that on the day the Indian Airlines jet was hijacked and force-landed at Kandahar, he was asked to keep the heat-seeking Stinger missiles ready. "Emergency was declared at the Kandahar Airport in 30 minutes. I was told that other planes will also follow this one and there is a chance that the situation could deteriorate," he said

IC-814 Captain becomes a celebrity in India Devi Sharan with his daughters, Aashna, 7, and Deeksha, 10. The hijackers, jumpy and brusque, shoved the nose of the gun to the pilot's head. Take off in 30 seconds or die, they told him. Then they began a panicky countdown: "30, 29, 28, 27 . . ." When they reached 2, Capt. Devi Sharan opened up the power on Indian Airlines flight 814 and took off. As the Airbus lifted into the sky at 7:49 p.m. on Christmas Eve, any possibility that a crack Indian commando team could storm the plane and try to rescue the 184 passengers and crew members ended. The jet was leaving Amritsar, in India, and heading across the border into what many Indians consider enemy territory: Pakistan.

Indian Airlines Flight 814 (abbreviated IA-814) was a flight that flew from Kathmandu, Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport to Delhi, India's Indira Gandhi International Airport. It was hijacked on Christmas Eve, Friday, December 24, 1999, shortly after the aircraft entered Indian airspace at about 5:30 p.m. Indian Standard Time by five Pakistani nationals. The hijackers stabbed to death 25-year-old Rupin Katyal. Ultimately, the plane landed in Afghanistan, where the hijackers agreed to release their hostages in exchange for the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. The Indian Airlines (now renamed as 'Indian') flight 814 (VT-EDW) was hijacked on the eve of Christmas on Friday, December 24, 1999, shortly after the aircraft entered Indian airspace at about 5:30 p.m. Indian Standard Time. The identities of the hijackers were 1. Ibrahim Athar from Bahawalpur, Pakistan 2. Shahid Akhtar Sayed from Gulshan Iqbal, Karachi, Pakistan 3. Sunny Ahmed Qazi from Defence Area, Karachi, Pakistan 4. Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim from Akhtar Colony, Karachi, Pakistan 5. Shakir from Sukkur City Anil Sharma, senior flight steward on IC-814, later recalled that a masked, bespectacled threatened to blow up the plane with a bomb and ordered Captain Devi Sharan to "fly West". The hijackers wanted Captain Sharan to divert the aircraft over Lucknow and head towards Lahore, but Pakistani authorities quickly refused permission as they were wary of being linked with the terrorists. Also, the fuel was not sufficient. Captain Sharan told the hijackers that they have to land in Amritsar, India After landing at Amritsar, the flight crew were hoping that they will get some assistance and the hijacking will end. They asked for a sniper or a sharpshooter to go along with the browser and shoot at the tyres to disable the aircraft. But, for unknown reasons that could't happen. The local forces at Amritsar were told to wait for the National Security Guard. The hijackers asked for the plane to be refueled, the Indian Government agreed as it would have given it some time to formulate some strategy. But as the refueling was deliberately delayed by the Indian Government, after waiting for over 25 minutes, the hijackers became suspicious and ordered the captain to fly the plane to Pakistan. When the captain didn't comply, they threatened to kill all the passengers. They stabbed 25-year Mr. Rupin Katyal in chest a number of times. Rupin Katyal was returning from his honeymoon with his wife Rachna Katyal. At this stage, a helpless Captain Sharan realized that there was no action from ATC, the Indian Government or the security forces; "the browser was not coming in front of the aeroplane and nothing was happening". He decided to fly to Lahore without refuelling. As the plane was running very low of fuel, on Indian government's request, Pakistan allowed the plane to be landed and refueled. Three hours after landing, the plane took off towards Afghanistan but as none of the airports were equipped for night landings, it was diverted to the military base Al Minhat in the United Arab Emirates. During this flight, Mr. Rupin Katyal passed away. After landing, the hijackers were asked to release women and children in exchange for some more fuel, food and water. Some 25 passengers were released along with the body of Mr. Rupin Katyal. Captain Sharan later recalled that there were "a lot of different kinds of weapons, different colours of hand grenades" in the cockpit and "the pedestal was full of bullets. In the early hours of Christmas morning, the battered and hijacked plane flew again with a tired crew to Kandahar, Afghanistan. The Taliban authorities did not cooperate with the Indian authorities to secure a release of the hostages by disallowing Indian commandos to storm the plane. They refused the request to let Afghan commandos storm the plane, as well. The Taliban encircled the plane with tanks and heavily armed militia. Negotiations opened up between the Indian government and the hijackers. The government accepted to release the following terrorists in exchange for the release of the passengers and crew of the flight IC 814. · Maulana Masood Azhar (Pakistani) · Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar (Indian) · Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (British national of Pakistani origin) The erstwhile Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh had personally gone to Kandahar to take charge of the situation there. After negotiations between the India government, and the hijackers, the remaining hostages were freed. On December 31, 1999, the freed hostages of the Indian Airlines Flight 814 were flown back to India on a special plane. The hijackers disappeared into Pakistan in their vehicle before releasing a Taliban official they had taken hostage Initial demand by the hijackers The hijackers initially demanded the release Mohammad Masood Azhar, who is currently serving jail sentence in India for terrorist activities. Azhar is a Pakistani national and is the General Secretary and ideologue of the Harakat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), an organization based in Pakistan which was in October 1997 designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States Department of State. The HUM was re-designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the State Department in its latest list released on October 8, 1999 Latest demands by the hijackers The hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight IC – 814 have demanded the release of 35 other jailed terrorists besides Mohammad Masood Azhar and US $200 million for the release of 154 hostages. The hijackers have also demanded that the body of Harkat-ul-Ansar chief in Jammu & Kashmir Sajjad Afghani be exhumed and the coffin be handed over to them. According to news reports, the hijackers have dropped their demands for a $200 million ransom and the exhumed remains of Afghan terrorist Sajjad Afghani (06:30 AM EST, December 29, 1999). Final Solution India released 3 terrorists for the exchange of the Indian Airlines passengers. Summary of External Affairs Minister's comments at a press briefing - December 27, 1999. The Government of India continues to monitor the situation. The Government has shared with the leaders of political parties in India information on developments in respect of the hijacking of flight IA-814. The leaders of political parties said that since developments were taking place at a fast pace, it was for the Government to decide on shapes should be taken. The safety and security of the passengers and crew and, above all, the national interest of the country remain the two main elements of India's approach. The meeting condoled the sad and regrettable death by stabbing of Shri Rupin Katyal. An airplane with essential materials, doctors, relief crew and a negotiating team is in the process of leaving for Kandhar. It was our expectation that the aircraft will leave for Kandhar within the next 2-3 hours. In the course of the last two days EAM had contacted his counterparts in several countries including Australia, Russia, Canada, Great Britain, USA, Switzerland, Italy, Bangladesh and Nepal to seek their active cooperation on humanitarian grounds. In response to questions, EAM said the following: The Government was aware of reports of the deadline apparently set by the hijackers. Our direct contacts with them will enable us to know the exact nature of their demands. The relief aircraft would have gone yesterday but for procedural difficulties not on account of the Government of India. The cooperation we are receiving from the US administration is totally satisfactory. EAM has been in touch with his counterpart in Pakistan. The Pakistani reaction was that whatever they do will be within the four corners of the law and transparent.

Rupin Katyal, who was killed by the hijackers, and his wife Rachna at their marriage reception Mrs. Rachna Katyal

Armed soldiers from the Taliban Islamic militia take up positions near the hijacked Indian Airlines plane at Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan Dec. 30.