Militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked luxury hotels, hospitals and a famous tourist cafe in India's commercial capital Mumbai late on Wednesday, killing at least 101 people.
Who is behind the attacks?
Witnesses say the attackers were young South Asian men speaking Hindi or Urdu, suggesting they are probably members of an Indian militant group rather than foreigners.
The attacks were claimed by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen in an e-mail to news organisations. Deccan is an area of southern India. Analysts say that while it is not clear whether the claim is genuine, the attacks were most likely carried out by a group called the Indian Mujahideen. The name used in the claim of responsibility suggests the attackers could be members of a south Indian offshoot or cell of the Indian Mujahideen.
Who are the Indian Mujahideen?
Indian police say the Indian Mujahideen is an offshoot of the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), but that local Muslims appear to have been given training and backing from militant groups in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.
SIMI has been blamed by police for almost every major bomb attack in India, including explosions on commuter trains in Mumbai two years ago that killed 187 people.
Police said the Indian Mujahideen may also include former members of th Bangladeshi militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami.
In an e-mail to various media in September, the group denounced Mumbai's police anti-terrorist squad, accusing them of harassing Muslims.
"If this is the degree your arrogance has reached, and if you think that by these stunts you can scare us, then let the Indian Mujahideen warn all the people of Mumbai that whatever deadly attacks Mumbaikars will face in future, their responsibility would lie with the Mumbai ATS and their guardians," it said.
The Indian Mujahideen have made credible claims of responsibility for most of the recent major attacks on civilian targets in India over the past two years.
The Mumbai attacks appear to have been carefully co-ordinated, well-planned and involved a large number of attackers. A high level of sophistication has also been a hallmark of previous attacks by the Indian Mujahideen.
The Mumbai attacks also focused clearly on tourist targets, including two luxury hotels and a famous cafe.
In May, the Indian Mujahideen made a specific threat to attack tourist sites in India unless the government stopped supporting the United States in the international arena.
The threat was made in an e-mail claiming responsibility for bomb attacks that killed 63 people in the tourist city of Jaipur. The e-mail, signed by "Guru Al-Hindi", declared "open war against India" and included the serial number of one of the bicycles on which the bombs were left.
Witnesses in Mumbai say the attackers in Mumbai singled out Americans and Britons in their attacks.
The group first emerged during a wave of bombings in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in November 2007, sending an e-mail to media outlets just before some of the bombs exploded. Their next attacks were the Jaipur blasts.
On July 25, eight small bomb attacks in the IT city of Bangalore on July 25 that killed at least one person and wounded 15. There was no known claim of responsibility.
But a day later, at least 16 bombs exploded in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, killing 45 and wounding 161. Shortly before the blasts, an e-mail in the name of the Indian Mujahideen was sent to local media warning that people would soon "feel the terror of death" in the name of Allah.
It said the attacks were revenge for the Gujarat riots of 2002, when around 2,500 people, most of them Muslims, were killed by Hindu mobs. A later e-mail accused several state governments of harassing, imprisoning and torturing Muslims and threatened consequences if they did not stop.
In September, at least five bombs exploded in crowded markets and streets in New Delhi, killing at least 18 people. The Indian Mujahideen sent out an e-mail moments after the first blast in New Delhi, saying the explosions were to prove its capability to strike in the most secure of Indian cities.
All previous incidents in which the Indian Mujahideen are suspected of involvement involved co-ordinated serial bombs. The Mumbai attacks also show clear signs of co-ordination but were carried out by gunmen, some carrying grenades.
The tactics, a military-style assault on soft targets, singling out foreigners, and taking hostages, are rare and do not fit the usual methods of militant attacks on civilian areas.
However, similar attacks have been carried out before, notably the May 2004 attacks in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar.
Gunmen attacked two oil industry installations and a foreign workers' housing complex in the city, taking more than 50 hostages and killing 22 of them. The attackers asked hostages whether they were Christian or Muslim before deciding whom to kill.
Source: Reuters
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Bloggers feed frenzy info on Mumbai blasts!
Bloggers across Mumbai fed live updates of the action after Islamist gunmen launched waves of attacks in the heart of India's financial capital, highlighting the emergence of citizen journalism in news coverage.
Some, including a blogger named Vinu, were furiously uploading photos of damage from the attacks that killed at least 101 people and injured 287, with scores of foreigners, including Westerners trapped in luxury hotels.
Images of the attacks also surfaced on photo-sharing website Flickr.Some bloggers provided running descriptions and commentaries from near the action, while others vented emotions."I've been tweeting almost all night, too, from Mumbai. Upset and angry and bereft," said businesswoman Dina Mehta on her blog, www.dinamehta.com/blog.Twitter, the wildly popular "micro-blogging" site where users communicate with short "tweets" of 140 characters or less, saw intense activity on Thursday.
Within five seconds at 0748 GMT, 80 messages were posted. Posts included offers of help for the media and updates on the situation."One terrorist has jumped from Nariman house building to Chabad house - group of police commandos have arrived on scene," one tweeter wrote.
Twitter came in for some criticism as well in the blogosphere for divulging too many details that could prove helpful to the gunmen holed up in the hotels with their hostages and who may have been been monitoring blog sites.
"It's a terrorist strike. Not entertainment. So tweeters, please be responsible with your tweets," said one blogger identified as primaveron@mumbai.Several local Indian news channels were reported to have carried a live feed of the twitter updates on the Mumbai attacks.
Source: Reuters
Some, including a blogger named Vinu, were furiously uploading photos of damage from the attacks that killed at least 101 people and injured 287, with scores of foreigners, including Westerners trapped in luxury hotels.
Images of the attacks also surfaced on photo-sharing website Flickr.Some bloggers provided running descriptions and commentaries from near the action, while others vented emotions."I've been tweeting almost all night, too, from Mumbai. Upset and angry and bereft," said businesswoman Dina Mehta on her blog, www.dinamehta.com/blog.Twitter, the wildly popular "micro-blogging" site where users communicate with short "tweets" of 140 characters or less, saw intense activity on Thursday.
Within five seconds at 0748 GMT, 80 messages were posted. Posts included offers of help for the media and updates on the situation."One terrorist has jumped from Nariman house building to Chabad house - group of police commandos have arrived on scene," one tweeter wrote.
Twitter came in for some criticism as well in the blogosphere for divulging too many details that could prove helpful to the gunmen holed up in the hotels with their hostages and who may have been been monitoring blog sites.
"It's a terrorist strike. Not entertainment. So tweeters, please be responsible with your tweets," said one blogger identified as primaveron@mumbai.Several local Indian news channels were reported to have carried a live feed of the twitter updates on the Mumbai attacks.
Source: Reuters
Terror puts brake on Mumbai cos
Hardly 14 hours have passed since Mumbai have come under siege of terror. Taj Mahal and Trident Hotels, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Colaba and other locations in south Mumbai are virtually terror-stricken in the attack that claimed 78 lives and injuring hundred of people.
As the hubs of activities in the city are still under the gun-wielding terrorists, the impact of these heinous crimes against humanity is evidently being reflected in the city's business affairs and the IT sector is no exception.
As a reflection of the terror siege, many IT companies have closed their shutters for the day and some have reportedly asked their employees to work from home.
Netcore Slutions Pvt Ltd, an IT product and service company based in Mumbai, decided to down the shutter for the day considering the situation in the city.
"Whatever has happened is unfortunate. And we have decided not to work today considering the security of the employees," said Abhijit Saxena, CEO, Netcore.
However, he hoped that things would normalize soon and people would be back to work. "After all, terror attack is not something exclusive to India and hence I don't think it would have any major impact on the industry or the economic scenario of the country as such," said Saxena.
TCS House near CST, the main office of Tata Consultancy Services in Mumbai has also downed the shutters today considering the extremely panicking situation. However, the TCS offices in north Mumbai are working.
"TCS employees that work out of our offices in South Mumbai can operate out of any of the offices in North Mumbai until further advise," Pradipta Bagchi, senior general manager, Corporate Communications, TCS said a in a statement.
"A team of TCS experts continue to monitor the situation continuously and the company has very well established business continuity plans in place should the need arise to implement them," he added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Government has declared a general holiday for today. The terror strike has also resulted in the cancellation of many IT events in the city. Sun Microsystems, which had planned to announce its new initiative targeted at emerging markets sales region in India, has been called off the event for the time being.
Another such event of Sony Ericsson slated for today, which was set at ITC Grand Central in Parel, Mumbai's central suburb has also been cancelled.
It appears that the IT businesses are under the 'wait and watch' mood till the tense situation in the financial capital improves and the business is back to normalcy.
Source: CMN
As the hubs of activities in the city are still under the gun-wielding terrorists, the impact of these heinous crimes against humanity is evidently being reflected in the city's business affairs and the IT sector is no exception.
As a reflection of the terror siege, many IT companies have closed their shutters for the day and some have reportedly asked their employees to work from home.
Netcore Slutions Pvt Ltd, an IT product and service company based in Mumbai, decided to down the shutter for the day considering the situation in the city.
"Whatever has happened is unfortunate. And we have decided not to work today considering the security of the employees," said Abhijit Saxena, CEO, Netcore.
However, he hoped that things would normalize soon and people would be back to work. "After all, terror attack is not something exclusive to India and hence I don't think it would have any major impact on the industry or the economic scenario of the country as such," said Saxena.
TCS House near CST, the main office of Tata Consultancy Services in Mumbai has also downed the shutters today considering the extremely panicking situation. However, the TCS offices in north Mumbai are working.
"TCS employees that work out of our offices in South Mumbai can operate out of any of the offices in North Mumbai until further advise," Pradipta Bagchi, senior general manager, Corporate Communications, TCS said a in a statement.
"A team of TCS experts continue to monitor the situation continuously and the company has very well established business continuity plans in place should the need arise to implement them," he added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Government has declared a general holiday for today. The terror strike has also resulted in the cancellation of many IT events in the city. Sun Microsystems, which had planned to announce its new initiative targeted at emerging markets sales region in India, has been called off the event for the time being.
Another such event of Sony Ericsson slated for today, which was set at ITC Grand Central in Parel, Mumbai's central suburb has also been cancelled.
It appears that the IT businesses are under the 'wait and watch' mood till the tense situation in the financial capital improves and the business is back to normalcy.
Source: CMN
Mumbai attacks will not slow investment, says Kamal Nath
Trade Minister Kamal Nath said on Thursday the attacks on high profile targets in the country's commercial capital would not slow investment into an ecomomy already under strain.
At least 101 people were killed by gunmen in the attacks on some of Mumbai's top hotels, a popular cafe, a busy railway station and other locations. Hostages were taken in two of the hotels.
"This does not have an economic component. It's an unfortunate event. These type of things have happened in New York and other major cities," Nath told Reuters by telephone.
"(There will be) no slowdown in investment flows."
The global downturn has already rattled Indian financial markets and a credit squeeze has prompted the government and central bank to take a series of measures to lift sagging growth.
The Reserve Bank expects the economy to expand by 7.5-8 percent in the 2008-09 fiscal year, slowing from 9 percent posted in the last three years.
India's capital market regulator said the country's two major stock exchanges would remain closed on Thursday.
Source: Reuters
At least 101 people were killed by gunmen in the attacks on some of Mumbai's top hotels, a popular cafe, a busy railway station and other locations. Hostages were taken in two of the hotels.
"This does not have an economic component. It's an unfortunate event. These type of things have happened in New York and other major cities," Nath told Reuters by telephone.
"(There will be) no slowdown in investment flows."
The global downturn has already rattled Indian financial markets and a credit squeeze has prompted the government and central bank to take a series of measures to lift sagging growth.
The Reserve Bank expects the economy to expand by 7.5-8 percent in the 2008-09 fiscal year, slowing from 9 percent posted in the last three years.
India's capital market regulator said the country's two major stock exchanges would remain closed on Thursday.
Source: Reuters
Is Wipro facing impact of global woes?
Wipro in India sees the impact of the financial crisis in the form of lower demand output.
This is the view of Wipro CFO Suresh Senapaty during a television interview at the Reuters India Investment summit in Bangalore.
To check out the video interview...click on the video below:
http://in.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=94456&videoChannel=104
This is the view of Wipro CFO Suresh Senapaty during a television interview at the Reuters India Investment summit in Bangalore.
To check out the video interview...click on the video below:
http://in.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=94456&videoChannel=104
IBM India continues to hire despite recession
IBM's India BPO continues to hire and has not yet seen any impact of a slowdown.
That is the view of Sandip Patel, managing partner of IBM's global business services in India and South Asia, during a television interview at the Reuters India Investment Summit in Bangalore.
To check out the video interview...click on the link below:
http://in.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=94457&videoChannel=104
Has salary for AIG CEO been cut?
Under pressure from Attorney General Andrew M Cuomo of New York, the American International Group that it would pay its chief executive, Edward M Liddy, only $1 a year and that it was freezing the salaries and eliminating bonuses for its seven other top executives.
In addition, the troubled insurance company said its next 50 highest-ranked executives would not receive salary increases through 2009.
AIG’s cutbacks on executive pay came after Cuomo questioned last week whether the company actually planned to give out raises and bonuses to top executives, especially in light of the federal government’s $150 billion bailout of the company.
The company said it was taking steps to ensure that no government money would be used for bonuses and cash awards to its 60 top executives.
Source: NYT News Service
In addition, the troubled insurance company said its next 50 highest-ranked executives would not receive salary increases through 2009.
AIG’s cutbacks on executive pay came after Cuomo questioned last week whether the company actually planned to give out raises and bonuses to top executives, especially in light of the federal government’s $150 billion bailout of the company.
The company said it was taking steps to ensure that no government money would be used for bonuses and cash awards to its 60 top executives.
Source: NYT News Service
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