Incident Summary:
11/13/2008: On Thursday, ten armed men boarded and hijacked the 'Kuber', a privately-owned fishing trawler with five crewmen from Porbandar, Gujarat state. The ship's navigator Amar Singh Solanki was bound and executed by the hijackers, who allegedly steered the vessel to Mumbai before abandoning it using inflatable dinghies. Solanki was found tied up in the engine room with his throat slit. The four other crewmen of the ‘Kuber’ were reported missing. The fishing trawler had set sail from Porbander on 11/13/2008 and was later found drifting in the Arabian Sea by a Coast Guard helicopter. According to the police, 10 assailants had sailed in a merchant vessel from Karachi on the high seas, before boarding Kuber. Armed with grenades, RDX and AK-47s, the men used the fishing trawler to enter Mumbai to perpetrate eight other terrorist attacks on 11/26/2008 to 11/29/2008 in which 171 people were killed and 250 were wounded. The assailants were later identified as Ismail Khan alias Abu Ismail from Dera Ismail Khan, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman alias Kasab, Abdul Rehman alias Abdul Rehman Chhota from Multan, Fahadullah alias Abu Fahad from Okara, Nasir alias Abu Umar from Faisalabad, Babar Imran alias Abu Akasha from Multan, Hafeez Arshad alias Bada Abdul Rehman from Multan, Javed alias Abu Ali from Okara, Shoaib alias Soheb from Sialkot and Nazeer alias Abu Umer from Faisalabad.
Overview
GTD ID:
200811130010
When:
2008-11-00
Country:
India
Region:
South Asia
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Gujarat
City:
Near Porbandar
Location Details:
The attack took place on a fishing trawler in Probander.
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Armed Assault |
Type of Attack () |
Hijacking |
Type of Attack () |
Hostage Taking (Kidnapping) |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Maritime |
Name of Entity |
Kuber fishing vessel |
Specific Description |
A fishing vessel, 'Kuber', was targeted in the attack. |
Nationality of Target |
India |
Additional Information
Hostages |
Yes |
Number of Hostages |
5 |
US Hostages |
0 |
Outcome |
Combination |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Unknown |
Extent of Property Damage |
Unknown |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Melee |
Knife or Other Sharp Object |
Weapon Details |
Unknown sharp weapons were used in the attack. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | Yes |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
This was one of eight related attacks (cf. 200811260001, 200811260002, 200811260005, 200811260003, 200811260006, 200811260009 and 200811260010). One of the five abducted crewmen, Amar Singh Solanki, was bound and his throat slit by the assailants. The outcome of the four other abducted crewmen is unknown. The other nine perpetrators were identified as Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman alias Kasab, Abdul Rehman alias Abdul Rehman Chhota from Multan, Fahadullah alias Abu Fahad from Okara, Nasir alias Abu Umar from Faisalabad, Babar Imran alias Abu Akasha from Multan, Hafeez Arshad alias Bada Abdul Rehman from Multan, Javed alias Abu Ali from Okara, Shoaib alias Soheb from Sialkot and Nazeer alias Abu Umer from Faisalabad. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
Unknown |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
New York Times, "At Least 100 Dead in India Terror Attacks," November 26, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/world/asia/27mumbai.html?scp=30&sq=mumbai&st=cse |
BBC Worlwide Monitoring, "How Mumbai Attacks Unfolded" BBC Worldwide Monitoring, November 2, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7757500.stm. |
BBC Worlwide Monitoring, "How Mumbai Attacks Unfolded" BBC Worldwide Monitoring, November 2, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7757500.stm. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties