Obama Condemns Mumbai Attacks; Bloggers Finger Lashkar-e Tayiba; Pakistan Pledges Support

The terrorist attacks that have left some 100 persons dead and 250 wounded in Mumbai (Bombay), India, caused President-Elect Barack Obama to express his support for the people of India. The Press Trust of India reports:

' Washington, Nov 27 (PTI) US President-elect Barack Obama today pledged full support to India to "root out" terrorist networks as the international community denounced as "outrageous" the multiple terror strikes in Mumbai that claimed at least 100 lives. (bama, who is continuously monitoring the situation, spoke to Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen over phone and conveyed his message that his thoughts and prayers are with the people of India. A statement issued by his Chief National Security Spokesperson Brooke Anderson said the Mumbai terror attacks demonstrated "the grave and urgent threat" of terrorism. "The United States must continue to strengthen our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks," it said. The Democratic President-elect, who also spoke to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the situation, told Sen that he is completely supportive of all actions of the Bush Administration to be of whatever assistance to the Government of India in dealing with the menace.'

The attacks have provoked a good deal of comment in the Indian blogosphere.

Aditi Nadkarny focuses on the targeting of tourist hotels and of American, British and Israeli nationals by the terrorists, warning that they may have developed a new technique that menaces citizens of those countries abroad even though improved security has made such attacks difficult to pull off in the metropoles. She notes that many previous such attacks had instead targeted Indians.

Indiavikalp focuses on the report that one of the captured terrorists confessed to being a member of the Lashkar-e Tayibah (Army of the Pure), a Pakistan-based jihadi group that used to train in al-Qaeda camps. This group is an offshoot of Da'wa wa Irshad (Missionizing and Guidance), which was linked to the Ahl-i Hadith movement and was originally founded in the mid-1980s to combat Shiite influence in Pakistan.

Devinaa, who has family and friends in the city, gives a blow by blow timeline of unfolding events.

A lot of Indian bloggers focused on the fact that the terrorists came into Bombay on rubber boats, and darkly hinted that they had arrived from Karachi, Pakistan. That would have been some ride.

Rediff.com did a revealing series on the Lashkar-e Tayiba (just click on the arrow pointing to the right to advance through it).

Meanwhile, Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmoud Qureshi, pledged 'complete support' in India's struggle against terrorism, noting that Pakistan deals with the problem every day.

AP has video.



India has been suffering from the rise of terrorist groups, some of them Hindu extremists targeting Muslims.

In recent weeks, Hindu extremists have killed 100 Christians in the east of the country.

Even in cosmopolitan Mumbai, Hindu extremists have attacked Christians.