Paris terror attacks resemble 26 11 Mumbai mayhem say experts

Colonel (retired) Mahendra Pratap Choudhary (75), who raised and commanded the first anti-terrorist black cat commando force (now known as NSG) in 1982, said the Mumbai police also needs a separate team dedicated to gathering intelligence, especially to keep an eye on radicalized people, who can be trained and used as terror modules and activate them as and when needed.

Meanwhile, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Deven Bharti also said that security has been beefed up in Mumbai in view of the terror attacks in the French capital last night.

The 13/11 Paris terror attack has brought alive memories of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attack whose seventh anniversary is around the corner.

Speaking after chairing a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee in the wake of the Paris attacks, Prime Minister David Cameron made clear the threat against the United Kingdom still stands.

“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 worldwide tourists to intimidate global communities, opening indiscriminate firing with guns and granades were a few of similarities between the attacks in the two capitals”, he added.

Bruce Hoffman, head of the national security programme at Georgetown University, referred to a call given by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden five years ago to carry Mumbai-type attack across Europe.

Notably, there are several uncanny similarities between Mumbai 26/11 and Paris 14/11.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at Mumbai airport deployed 80 more officers on Saturday after the alert was issued. The CST station in Mumbai was seen lit up in French tricolour in solidarity with the Paris attack victims. “Had our ground intelligence networking been efficient, the security agencies would have had prior information about the four Kalyan boys who had joined ISIS”, he said.

“One second I was drinking and chatting with my friends… the next second we had bullets whizzing past killing fellow diners”, he said. “They need to be airlifted followed by proper landing arrangements”.

Speaking to The Asian Age, state DGP Praveen Dixit said, “All police units across Maharashtra in charge have been briefed to review and step up security arrangements at places having heavy footfalls”. We are also paying special attention to coastal security.