Indian PM blames a "neighbouring country" for Mumbai carnage, Hannah Cooper

Hannah Cooper — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:59:15 +0000

A series of attacks by gunmen threw Mumbai, the financial centre of India, into chaos when it started on Thursday morning. The twenty-four hour massacre left at least 120 people dead and hundreds more injured as armed Islamist militants attacked a hospital, a restaurant, a railway station and two luxury hotels frequented by Westerners. By Thursday night Indian troops had regained control of the city and hostages were freed. The authorities stormed a Jewish centre on Friday morning to flush out the last of the insurgents.Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.

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The toD verdict: The attacks in this key Indian city, which saw terrorists randomly firing at civilians and foreign visitors, have provoked worldwide condemnation amongst state leaders.

The Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the country on Thursday and blamed these attacks on external forces from a "neighbouring country" and, without mentioning any names, implied that the terrorists came from Pakistan. This puts into question relations between the two countries which, despite the ongoing dispute over the region of Kashmir, were thought to have been improving. The Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has announced his wish to cooperate with India to combat terrorism and has also denounced the recent attacks as "detestable". Similar attacks have occurred in the past in the city, and in July 2006, bomb blasts on Mumbai's commuter train network killed 183 people.

Piracy "an extension of the disorder inside Somalia"

Grenades were thrown into a busy market on Thursday in the town that hosts Somalia's parliament, killing at least five people and wounding 17 others. The attack was thought to have been carried out by Islamists, who control most of the south of the country. Violence between the government and these insurgents has caused the death of 10,000 civilians since early 2007 and led to the internal displacement of over a million people.

Meanwhile, off the coast of Somalia the pirates who seized the Saudi oil tanker Sirius Star have announced that they are willing to conduct an "honest dialogue" with the ship's owners. The chairman of the African Union, Jean Ping, has said that "the piracy in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean is an extension of the disorder inside Somalia." The pirates currently hold 17 ships, with over 250 hostages.

DRC ceasefire violated

Wednesday and Thursday saw the renewal of violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between rebels and pro-government groups. Hostilities took place in the Kiwanja-Ishasa area and it was reported on Wednesday that rebel leader Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People had seized the town of Kinsharo, 100km north of Goma. The United Nations condemned the rebel actions as a violation of the ceasefire agreement and blamed them for intensifying the humanitarian and security situation in the region.

Police and protestors battle in Yemen capital

Violence broke out during demonstrations which took place in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, on Thursday to call for the boycott of the parliamentary elections scheduled for April 2009. Security forces opened fire on the protestors, wounding at least 23 and leaving some critically injured. The Yemeni journalists union also claimed that the police beat journalists with batons and weapon butts in what the government called an "illegal" protest.

In other news from Yemen, an explosion of a minibus killed three people and injured four more in the capital on Thursday. It had not been established what had caused the blast, and whilst some thought it was a bomb attack others claimed that the vehicle was running on liquefied gas.

Thanksgiving terror threat in New York

Even before the attacks in Mumbai were made known to the US government, New York City was placed on high security alert. Thursday's celebrations, which saw some 3.5 million people gather in the streets for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, saw a step up in police security after reports of potential terrorism threats were received by the Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, which indicated the possibility of an attack on the New York transportation system.

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Indian PM blames a "neighbouring country" for Mumbai carnage, Hannah Cooper