The 2008 Mumbai attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist shootings and bombings that took place across Mumbai, India from November 26-29, 2008. 10 terrorists carried out attacks at several locations, killing 164 people and injuring over 300. Key locations that were attacked included the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, Cama Hospital, and Nariman House. The attacks lasted several days as security forces worked to kill or capture the terrorists. The only attacker captured alive, Ajmal Kasab, confessed that the attacks were supported by Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI and carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba militants.

1. NEWS AND
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
 SUBMITTED TO:
 Ms ZAKIA TASMIN RAHMAN

2. MUMBAI TERROR
ATTACK 26/11
 COMPILED BY:-
 PALAK MEHROTRA
 APRAJITA RANA
 PALVI JASWAL
 ARUSHI KAUSHIK
 SHIVALIKA TRIKHA
 ABHIMANYU KARNATAK
 SHUBHANKAR TRIPATHI
 DEEPAK ARORA

3. INTRODUCTION
 The 2008 Mumbai attacks were 11 coordinated
shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai.
 The attacks occurred at Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus,
Oberoi Trident, Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, Cama
Hospital, Nariman House, Metro Cinema and five
other places.
 The attacks began on Wednesday, 26 November and
lasted untill Saturday, 29 November 2008 killing 164
people and wounding at least 308.

4.  By the early morning of 28 November, all
sites except for the Taj hotel had been
secured by Mumbai Police and security
forces.
 On 29 November, India's National Security
Guards (NSG) conducted Operation Black
Tornado to flush out the remaining attackers.
 Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker captured alive
later confessed that the attacks were
conducted with the support of Pakistan’s
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
 He disclosed that the attackers were
members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-
based militant organisation.

5. ATTACKS
TAJ MAHAL HOTEL AND OBEROI
TRIDENT:
 Six explosions were reported at the
Taj hotel- one in the lobby, two in
the elevators, three in the
restaurant and one at the Oberoi
Trident.
 At the Taj, firefighters rescued 200
hostages from windows using
ladders during the first night.
 Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan of the
National Security Guards (NSG) was
killed during the rescue of
Commando Sunil Yadav, who was
hit in the leg by a bullet during the
rescue operation at Taj.

6.  When reports emerged that attackers were
receiving television broadcasts, feeds to the hotels
were blocked.
 Security forces stormed both hotels, and all nine
attackers were killed by the morning of 29
November.
NARIMAN HOUSE:
 Nariman House, a Jewish centre, was taken over by
two attackers and several residents were held hostage.
 Police evacuated adjacent buildings and exchanged fire
with the attackers, wounding one.
 After a long battle, one NSG commando Havaldar
Gajender Singh Bisht and both perpetrators were killed.

7. CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI TERMINUS
 The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) was attacked
by two gunmen, one of whom was Ajmal Kasab.
 The attackers killed 58 people and injured 104 others.
 As soon as the security forces and emergency services
arrived, the two gunmen Kasab and Khan fled the
scene and fired at pedestrians and police officers in
the streets, killing eight police officers.

8.  The attackers then headed towards Cama
Hospital with an intention to kill patients, but
the hospital staff locked all of the patient
wards.
 Kasab and Khan opened fire on the vehicle in a
lane next to the hospital and the police returned
fire.
 Police officers Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar,
Tukaram Omble and Ashok Kamte were killed
and the only survivor, Constable Arun Jadhav was
wounded.
 After a gun battle with the two, Khan was killed
and Kasab was arrested.

9. CASUALTIES
 At least 166 victims (civilians and security
personnel) and nine attackers were killed in the
attacks.
 Among the dead were 28 foreign nationals from 10
countries who were notable figures in business,
media and security services.
 The bodies of many of the dead hostages showed
signs of torture or disfigurement.

10. INVESTIGATION
 According to investigations, the attackers travelled by sea
from Karachi, Pakistan, across the Arabian Sea.
 They hijacked the Indian fishing trawler 'Kuber', killed the
crew of four and forced the captain to sail to Mumbai.
 After murdering the captain, the attackers entered
Mumbai on a rubber dinghy.
 The attackers stayed and were trained by the Lashkar-e-
Taiba in a safehouse at Azizabad near Karachi before
boarding a small boat for Mumbai.
 David Headley, a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, was the
chief scout in scoping out targets for Mumbai attack.
 The arrest of Abu Hamza in June 2012 provided further
clarity on how the plot was hatched.

11.  According to Abu Hamza, the attacks were
previously scheduled for 2006, using Indian youth
for the job. A huge cache of AK-47's and RDX,
which were to be used for the attacks, was
recovered from Aurangabad in 2006, thus
leading to the dismantling of the original plot.
 In September 2007, ten Pakistani youth were
selected for the mission. They tried sailing to
Mumbai from Karachi in September 2008 but
couldn't complete their mission due to choppy
waters.
 These men made a second attempt in November
2008, and successfully managed to execute the
final attacks.

12. ARRESTS
 There were ten gunmen, nine of whom were
subsequently shot dead and one captured by
security forces.
 Witnesses reported that they looked to be in their
early twenties, wore black t-shirts and jeans, and
looked happy as they shot their victims.
 The bodies of the nine killed gunmen were buried
in a secret location in January 2010. The bodies
had been in the mortuary of a Mumbai hospital
after Muslim clerics in the city refused to let them
be buried on their grounds.

13. AJMAL KASAB
 On January 7, 2009, Pakistan's
Information Minister Sherry
Rehman officially accepted Ajmal
Kasab's nationality as Pakistani.
 During interrogation, when police
asked what he understood about
jihad, Kasab said that it is about
killing and getting killed and
becoming famous. By this one will
become famous and will also make
Allah proud.
 In December 2009, Kasab tried
retracking his confession in court.
He claimed that he had come to
Mumbai to act in Bollywood films
and was arrested by the Mumbai
police three days before the
attacks.

14.  Several Indian lawyers refused to represent Kasab citing
ethical concerns.
 In December 2008, then Chief Justice of India K.G.
Balakrishnan said that for a fair trial, Kasab needed to get a
lawyer.
 In April 2009, Abbas Kazmi was appointed as the defence
lawyer for Kasab.
 A trial court on 6 May, 2010 sentenced Ajmal Kasab
to death on all the 86 charges for which he was convicted.
 On his appeal against this verdict, Bombay High Court on
February 21, 2011 and Supreme Court of India on August
29, 2012 upheld his death punishment.
 On September 18, 2012 Kasab moved a mercy petition
before the President of India.

15. REACTIONS
 Political reactions in Mumbai and India included a
range of resignations and political changes.
 Minister for Home Affairs Shivraj Patil, Chief Minister
Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister R.R.
Patil had to resign for taking the former's son
and bollywood director Ram Gopal Verma to tour the
damaged Taj Mahal and the latters remarks that the
attacks were not a big deal in such a large city.
 Bollywood actor Aamir Khan appealed to their Muslim
community in the country to observe Eid al-Adha as a
day of mourning on December 9.
 The attacks also triggered a chain of citizens'
movements across India such as the India Today
Group’s "War Against Terror" campaign.

16. THANK YOU