Here's a report that states they didn't think they were part of a suicide mission.
The gang of terrorists who wreaked mayhem in Mumbai for three days were made to believe by their Lashkar bosses that they were notBut this seems to contradict this story:
being sent on a suicide mission and that they would be coming back alive.In a sensational disclosure made by Ajmal, the jihadi nabbed alive by Mumbai cops, the group had planned to sail out on Thursday. Their recruiters had even charted out the return route for them and stored it on the GPS device which they had used to navigate their way to the Mumbai shoreline.
This suggests that the terrorists were willing to undertake a mission which they knew would be very risky, but not necessarily suicidal.
Sources said that the bait of safe return must have been used by the recruiters to convince the wavering among the group to join the audacious plot against Mumbai.
According to Maharashtra ATS sources, the terrorists who attacked Mumbai had instructions to kill till their death. A instruction that commandoes involved in the operation say they had followed to the end, littering the hotels with dead bodies. These disclosures are a part of some shocking revelations that came out after initial investigations.Read both of them for interesting background information on the attacks.Security sources quoting the arrested terrorist revealed that these terrorists were given extensive marine commando training for three months at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
I'm sure that you guys have been praying for the people of India and the families of those who have been attacked. We know how they feel to be attacked by Islamic militants who hate them because of who they are. Here is an example of the joy militants expressed when they heard the news:
Al-Qaeda websites on Thursday were swamped with messages from people who were celebrating the devastating Mumbai attacks which have left over 100 people dead and 281 injured. "Oh Allah, destroy the Hindus and do it in the worst of ways," was one of the comments that appeared on Islamist forums on the Internet immediately after the attacks."The battle that is underway in Mumbai is a battle for Allah between its servants and the infidels," said another message published on the al-Falluja forum.
This attack has made me even more concerned for the safety of President-elect Obama, our elected officials and our fellow citizens who will be attending the inauguration. I fear that this would be the perfect time for the jihadis to attack and since al-Qaeda has invited us to convert to Islam again (Muhammad commands that this be the first step before going to war) it looks like they are preparing for one (as the chatter indicates). I just pray that the security around the inauguration is adequate and they are prepared to thwart any terrorism attempts.
Prashant Mangeshikar could be dead, one of more than a hundred victims of militant attacks across Mumbai landmarks, if it had not been for an employee at the Taj Mahal Hotel.Mangeshikar, his wife and daughter were in the foyer of the 105-year-old hotel on Wednesday night when Islamist gunmen opened indiscriminate fire in one of a series of coordinated attacks in India's financial capital.
Recovering from the initial shock and chaos, hotel staff shepherded the guests, including the Mangeshikar family, through the service section upstairs -- only suddenly to come face to face with one of the gunmen.
"He looked young and did not speak to us. He just fired. We were in sort of a single file," Mangeshikar, a 52-year-old gynecologist, told Reuters. "The man in front of my wife shielded us. He was a maintenance section staff. He took the bullets."
The tale of the unnamed staff member has echoed across Mumbai where, time after time, hotel workers have emerged as the people who shielded, hid or evacuated their wealthy guests from militants at the Taj and Trident/Oberoi hotels.
Hotel workers in one case ushered guests into a conference room and then locked the doors to protect them from the militants. The guests were later rescued by the fire brigade.
The staff often proved essential, knowing short cuts to safety and where emergency exits were located.
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I just read on a Washington Post story linked to from Google News that there were only 10 attacker. They broke up in teams of 2. 2 to the restaurant, 2 to a hotel, 2 to another hotel, 2 to the Jewish center, and who knows where the other went. They arrived by small boat found floating in Mumbai harbor. 9 were killed and they are interrogating the captured one. They say it is a small Pakistani based militant organization.
This is a good piece from Gotham Chopra on Beliefnet. It hits the heart of the matter.
But, the real problem is MUCH bigger. The real perpitrator here is the global grid of Islamic fanaticism that extends far beyond the Indian subcontinent. In this case, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan may be ground zero for today's attacks, but the fire that fuels them is planetary. Specfically, the Madrassas - or religious schools - in Pakistan where hatred is bred receive their financing from Saudi sources and other Gulf nations. The fanaticism and hatred itself is largely generated in places like Iran and Palestinian territories. The problem here is deeply rooted in an the inflamed and aggravated epidemic that is Islamic fanaticism.
But of course, we need to even go further. Because where exactly do those Saudi and Gulf sources get their financing? You and me buying their oil. And why exactly is there so much anger and resentment toward the west in places like Palestine and Iran? Because of our mismanaged foreign policy the last twenty years and blind allegiance to the interests of Israel without contemplating the economic consequences on the Islamic world - specifically in the Palestinian territories. And by the way - I am not saying that the US should abandon Israel, but instead carefully construct a new policy with our important ally that may more likely result in a lasting peace.
Alas, now's not the time to get into a laboarious diatribe about our oil dependence or our foreign policy and blame all the world's ills on them. But it certainly is time to realize the truly tangled web and context in which today's attacks occurred. It'll be all too easy to try and identify the cancer that we all saw today and go and excise it. And by the way, that a necessary procedure. But so is the holistic treatment that must be part of the aftercare, lest we see this malignant terror return in a more virulent form.
Think about it. I hope Obama and his admin will be able to address this.
The motive for this attack was no different than Joshua's motive to attack Canaan and murder all the innocent men, women, children and animals: RELIGION - the greatest and most unnecessary evil the world has ever known.
Boris,
Yeah, that great evil that produced people like Abraham Lincoln and Mother Theresa. Get a life.
More people were murdered by fascist and communist regimes in the 20th century than died in all religious wars in all time combined.
Gee, Hitler claimed to be a Christian, so that means he automatically had the endorsement of God. Now who's displaying no intelligence? If you call yourself a hedgehog, does that make it true?
Yes, Mother Theresa's organizations provide primarily palliative care. But that's because the problem is overwhelming and and they have few resources. If not for her, most of these people would get NOTHING. I notice you provide no actual references to your ludicrous claim that she witheld medicine.
And as far as atheists doing good things, please point to an atheist organazation similar in size to the Missionaries of Charity currently working in India. Can't? Didn't think so.
Just one more psuedo-intellectual who read your namesake's book and thinks its keeeeewwwll to bash religion. You're a fad, a T-shirt.
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