RSS

In 2008, India ranked among the world’s most terrorism-afflicted countries according to U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism. The country was the focus of numerous attacks from both externally-based terrorist organizations and internally-based separatist or terrorist entities. Several attacks inflicted large numbers of casualties, including the most devastating attack of the year on November 26 in Mumbai. At least 183 people were killed, including 22 foreigners, six of whom were Americans and 14 members of the police and security forces. Over 300 more were injured. The assaults in Mumbai targeted places frequented by foreigners and wealthy Indians. The perpetrators entered the city from the sea and attacked people in two hotels, a Jewish center, the main train station, and additional locations. They also planted bombs in two taxis that later exploded in different locations in the city. The terrorists appeared to have been well trained and took advantage of technology, such as Global Positioning System trackers. Local and state police proved to be poorly trained and equipped, and lacked central control to coordinate an effective response.

The terror attacks shifted India’s fight against terrorism from regional to international level. For many years India has fought terrorist-style violence in the disputed territory of Kashmir, but Mumbai globalized this fight and has drawn the country into the center of the war on terror. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, one of the groups the Indian government believes was behind the Mumbai attacks, is among several banned Pakistani militant groups that experts say received backing from Pakistan’s intelligence agency to fight in Indian-administered Kashmir. Analysts say the group continues to operate freely inside Pakistan under a different name and has now become a global terrorist organization.

Kerley Tolpolar is a graduate student, majoring in Security and Intelligence Studies, at the School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh.