Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

Mumbai Attacks Unfolded New details have been slowly emerging about the early stages of the Mumbai terror attacks. Much of the information has been gleaned after the capture ofone of the militants involved, as the BBC's Prachi Pinglay reports from Mumbai. The story of the Mumbai terror attacks likely began when a private fishing trawler with five crew members set sail on the Arabian sea off the coast of Porbandar in India's western Gujarat state on 13 November.

Sometime during the next 12 days, the trawler was taken over at sea by at least 10 young men, aged between 20 and 23 years, carrying backpacks and bags, according to sources in the Mumbai police, coastguard, and commandos. Investigators still do not know what the men were sailing on and where they were coming from when they took over the trawler – though suspicion has fallen on the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

What they do know is that the men tied up one of the crew in the trawler's engine room, and slit his throat. The abandoned trawler was found by Indian coastguard ships more than three nautical miles off Mumbai.

After abandoning the trawler, the men opened the inflatable dinghies they were carrying and sailed into Mumbai waters early on 26 November, a little more than 10 hours before the attack, investigators say. An abandoned dinghy has been recovered in the sea off one of the many fishing colonies which dot the city's coast.

One of the top investigating officers told the BBC that the gunmen - nine were eventually killed and one arrested - split up into four groups and took the city's rickety black-and-yellow Fiat taxis from the fishing colony at Cuffe Parade to some of the locations they planned to attack. They say the men left grenades or bombs inside the taxis before they got out. The taxis exploded soon after, killing two drivers and one bystander.

The gunmen set fire to curtains and threw grenades to distract the commandos, according to federal commando chief JK Dutt. "We found a lot of unexploded grenades inside the hotel. They damaged a lot of property. It was senseless violence," he said. They also found lots of dry fruits, Indian and American currency, ammunition and fake Mumbai college student identity cards in the bags the gunmen had left behind during the attacks. "We are checking whether the gunmen had any local support. But what we are sure is that they were not from India, and had trained in and were carrying stuff - AK-56, AK-47 and 9mm revolvers and hand grenades possiblyof Chinese make," said an investigator.

Mumbai's terrorist attacks created two insistent lines of suspicion. Some argue the scale and lethality of the multiple; coordinated assaults were too sophisticated to be homegrown. They seek outside links, especially Pakistan. Others say the attackers knew the targets too well not to be local.

US role The United States is treading softly, volunteering to send investigators to help piece the puzzle together, but the offer is being carefully handled so as not to offend Pakistan. The U.S., which recently signed a nuclear accord with India, has its hands full in Afghanistan and along the border it shares with Pakistan. Why is US so careful? Check the motive.

Are you ready for the paper? Now look at the issue we are discussing today. Then look at the sources. Jot down what each source says quickly Study the questions. Do you know where to look for answers. You should not spend more than 10 minutes to do all these.