Terrorist Expert on Mumbai Attack: Tactics Indicate Local Indian Outfit

By Ben Cohen

According to terror expert Jason Burke, the horrific attacks on Jews, UK, U.S and Israeli citizens in Mumbai this week smacks of homegrown terrorism:

Putting together this jumble of tactics and the targeting of an

Orthodox Jewish centre and the apparent singling out of UK and US and

Israeli citizens would certainly seem to indicate a homegrown local

Indian outfit. The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, is already

talking about the involvement of "external links" which could mean

al-Qaida or Pakistan, but analysts recently have down-played foreign

involvement in the series of attacks in the last 18 months. The

homegrown explanation fits, insofar as anything based on an unknown

name of an unknown group, with the claim of responsibility from the

Deccan Mujahideen who appear likely to be close to the fragmented but

effective Indian Mujahideen movement. The claims of responsibility the

Indian Mujahideen have made in recent months have been treated as

credible.