Ten from the Dark Sea--A Record of Three Days of Stopping Mumbai (November 2008)

Ten from the Dark Sea--A Record of Three Days of Stopping Mumbai (November 2008)

The November 26-29, 2008 terrorist attacks in India's largest city, Mumbai (population of approximately 12 million), were carried out by the Pakistan-based Islamic militant group Lashkare-e-Taiba (LeT). The attacks killed 174 people and injured more than 300.

Lashkare-Taiba is an Islamic militant organization founded around 1987 in Pakistan's Punjab province, which has been seeking secession and Islamic rule in Indian Kashmir in the name of "jihad" (holy war). With the support of the religious organization Markaz ad-Dawa, it has operated military training camps and taught radical ideology and practical guerrilla tactics. Since its founding, the group has often been linked to Pakistan's military intelligence agency, ISI, and is believed to be involved in numerous terrorist incidents in India.

In the latest attack, 10 terrorists trained by LeT secretly landed in Mumbai via the Arabian Sea in a small boat. They planned in detail in advance and attacked several targets in the city at the same time.

The following major facilities were targeted

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Station
Taj Mahal Palace Hotel
Oberoi Trident Hotel
Leopold Café
Nariman House (Jewish Institution)

These attacks were not simply armed assaults, but were the result of a highly sophisticated intelligence plan. The terrorists thoroughly collected and utilized open source information such as Google Earth, tourist guides, online maps, and press materials to select their targets and understand their lines of movement. In addition, they used satellite phones and Internet communications to communicate in real time with their commanders inside Pakistan.

As a result, just 10 terrorists partially paralyzed the economy, transportation, communications, and other urban functions of Mumbai, a megacity with a population of 12 million, for three days. The world's media reported daily on the burning hotels and hostage rescue operations, and the horrific scenes shook the entire planet.

The only surviving criminal, Ajmal Kasab, confessed after being arrested at the scene and admitted that he was from a LeT training camp and had infiltrated Mumbai from Pakistan. His testimony brought international attention to the relationship between LeT and Pakistani state agencies.

In November 2011, three years after the incident, Philippine police arrested four men on suspicion of hacking into AT&T's system and transferring the illicit proceeds from the hack to LeT. The funds were believed to have flowed to LeT via Saudi Arabia, and the reality of the networked flow of terror funds also came to light.

The Mumbai tragedy was considered typical of modern terrorism, which uses open source information and encrypted communications to paralyze a city, in addition to direct destruction with guns and bombs. And the fact that a major city was rocked by just 10 terrorists is still remembered today as a warning symbolic of the fragility of modern society.