The multiple terrorist attacks that have left over 100 dead and several hundred injured and the prolonged standoffs between the terrorists and the security forces in Mumbai are at once a grievous tragedy and an attack on the spirit of India. In its method and scale, the shooting down of innocent people and courageous police officers in 11 different places across the city represents an affront to the Indian state of a type not seen in the recent past. Among the dead is the head of the Maharashtra police’s anti-terrorism squad, Hemant Karkare, who led his men from the front in engaging the terrorists and was shot. That military commandos and National Security Guard commandos joined in the effort of the police in countering the terrorists demonstrates the magnitude of the challenge that the desperadoes posed. The sophisticated arms that they used and the manner of the attacks point to a well-funded, well-trained group that bears the signature of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and its several variants. Unlike in the case of many of the other terror attacks where bombs were placed stealthily in crowded places, this was a fidayeen attack like the one on Parliament in 2002. The targeting of well-known landmarks and high profile places, including the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Taj Mahal and Trident hotels, and Nariman House, shows some foreknowledge of the place obtained by prior reconnaissance or through local collaborators. (Full Story)