The Mumbai terror attacks of 26 November 2008 left a scar on the psyche of the city, one which it has struggled to come to terms with.
On November 26, 2008, ten terrorists trained by the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) carried out a series of coordinated attacks against multiple targets in Mumbai including the Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi hotel, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman (Chabad) House, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, killing 166 people.
The then ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Army Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Mumbai’s additional police commissioner Ashok Kamte and senior police inspector Vijay Salaskar were among those killed in the attack.
But amid the grief, shock, anger and horror which took over Mumbai and the rest of the country on that fateful November week 12 years ago, there were also incredible tales of raw courage, of bravery, of a sense of duty, of men who faced the terrorists’ bullets while trying to rescue others, of those who fought back against terror. Some of these brave men paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Even though the ill-fated day is still etched in the minds of the survivors and the victims’ family, Mumbai Police Commissioner Subodh Kumar Jaiswal — on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attack — said that, “I can assure Mumbaikars that the city is safe and police are capable of protecting you from any eventuality. We have a strong and trained police force having latest equipment, weapons, strategy tactics and are always ready to deal with all the challenges,” he said.
The only surviving terrorist who was apprehended live by the Mumbai Police, Ajmal Kasab, disclosed that the attackers were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba as The Government of India declared that the attackers came from Pakistan as Indian government officials said that the attacks were so sophisticated that they must have had official backing from Pakistani “agencies”, an accusation denied by Pakistan.
However, on 7 January 2009, Pakistan confirmed the sole surviving perpetrator of the attacks was a Pakistani citizen.
Mumbai police originally identified 37 suspects—including two Pakistani army officers—for their alleged involvement in the plot.
One of these men, Pakistani American David Headley was found to have made several trips to India before the attacks and gathered video and GPS information on behalf of the plotters.
