Mumbai, India, Terrorist Attack

On the night of November 26, 2008, 10 heavily armed gunmen unleashed a barrage of fire on the civilian population of the city of Mumbai, India’s financial capital. They had arrived from sea and had fanned out in the southern part of the city in groups of two and three. Each carrying an automatic assault rifle and extra ammunition, a pistol, several hand grenades, and about 18 pounds of military-grade explosives, they systematically targeted two luxury hotels, the central passenger railway station, a chic café popular among western tourists, and a Jewish cultural center. In the melee that followed, they also targeted two city hospitals and a cinema house. All targets were located in or near the heart of the city, suggesting [Page 1157]the preplanned ...