13 years ago, on November 26, 2008, Mumbai faced a series of terrorist attacks by the Lashkar-E-Taiba organization from Pakistan. These attacks consisted of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks all in a matter of four days.
The Attacks
Ten gunmen believed to be associated with the Lashkar-E-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terrorist organization, carried out attacks, known as the 2008 attacks and the Mumbai attacks of 2008, beginning at around 9:30 pm on November 26, 2008. As time went on, the organization held hostages at three locations, the Nariman House, a Jewish outreach center, the Oberoi Trident luxury hotels, and the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower. At the Nariman House, by the end of the stand-off on November 28, six hostages and two gunmen had been killed. At the hotels, the guests and staff were either held hostage or trapped by gunfire. The Taj Mahal Palace siege only ended when security stopped it around midday on November 28. All in all, over 174 people passed, including 20 of the security force and 26 foreign nationals; the attacks injured over 300 people.
What We Need To Do
Even 13 years after, these attacks still have an impact to this day. Therefore, we must honor and pay tribute to those affected by these attacks. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan wrote, through the Indian Express, “The reality is that 26/11 has had a long afterlife, and it has got entangled with the tumultuous history that still weighs down the Subcontinent. It is not yet clear that we have skirted all the traps it set for us. The danger was, and it still is, of letting ourselves be defined and deformed by fear, of making suspicion a habit, a guiding force for our institutions, and part of our political common sense.”
26/11 is equivalent to the 9/11 of the United States, and it is time that we learn more about these attacks and pay our respects. Hopefully, this article helped with that by giving a basic overview.
Sources
https://www.britannica.com/event/Mumbai-terrorist-attacks-of-2008#ref283841