The modus operandi of the Paris attack is similar to the one which occurred in the Mumbai terror incident.
The gruesome attacks in Paris have brought back the memories of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The modus operandi of the attack is similar to the one which occurred in the Mumbai terror incident. Victims of the Mumbai terror attack recollected about the hardships which they had to undergo seven years ago. The 26/11 Mumbai attack by the LeT has now become the blueprint for terrorist attacks globally, as the latest Paris tragedy shows. Thus deadly Paris attacks have already claimed 129 lives and more than 350 injured. Security experts believe that the incident will be a game changer for how the West looks at the threat terrorism presents to all.
Former chief of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) K P Raghuvanshi said, “Though details about the modus operandi of the Paris terror attacks are yet to be divulged, on the basis of whatever preliminary information or reports we have received, we can say that the modus operandi mostly matches with Mumbai attacks.”
“Timing of the attack, style of combating by coming in a group, selecting multiple locations, targeting the civilians at places of gathering or iconic spots, targeting of international tourists to intimidate global communities, opening indiscriminate firing with guns and grenades were some of similarities between the attacks in the two capitals,” he added.
Raghuvanshi, who was the chief of ATS which handled the investigation of 26/11 attacks, however, said that the one of the differences was that in France, the attackers came as suicide bombers.
Ten members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based militant organisation, had carried out a series of 12 coordinated attacks lasting four days across Mumbai in November 2008, killing 164 people and injuring over 300.
Vinita Kamte, the wife of Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte who lost his life fighting the terrorists in Mumbai in 2008, said the members of ISIS, that has claimed responsibility for the attacks, should understand that instead of spreading their religion they are bringing a bad name to the followers of Islam who believe in non-violence.
“I am shocked at the magnitude of the Paris attacks. It is all the more concerning that such kind of attacks are happening in a western country that has some of the best security measures in place. Incidents like these, where innocent, unarmed people are killed, only make one wonder when will all this end,” she said.
“You cannot spread your religion like this. On the contrary, these people are only causing harm because people who follow the religion but believe in non-violence also get labelled then,” she said.
Terming both the attacks as the results of failure of “generic intelligence” or “actionable intelligence”, Brigadier (Rtd) Hemant Mahajan, a member of Forum for Integrated National Security, an NGO presenting blueprint of country’s security, said, “If we talk about the disparities then we find that in Mumbai terrorists had entered the city via coastal route, while in Paris they entered by intermingling with locals.”
39-year-old Shamim Shaikh, who lost six of his kin on the night of November 26, 2008, says the Paris attack has only brought back memories of fear and the pain that his other family members had to go through.
“There was a strange atmosphere that night. We were to go to our native place then, but, as soon as we entered the station, we saw that people were running helter-skelter. Till the time we understood what was happening, six persons from my family were already dead,” he said.
