Back to Search ResultsIncident Summary:
11/26/2008: On Wednesday night, two gunmen, Ismail Khan and Mohammed Ajmal Amir alias Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, entered the platforms of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or the Victoria Terminus railway station and began firing indiscriminately, killing 58 people including three policemen. The attack was one of eight coordinated attacks at various locations in Mumbai on 11/26/2008 to 11/29/2008 in which a total of 171 people were killed and 250 were wounded. After attacking CST, the two assailants moved on to carry out a second attack at a hospital. Ultimately Khan and Kasab encountered a Skoda police barricade at Girguam Chowpatty in which Ismail Khan was killed and Mohammed Kasab was captured and received a bullet injury to the hand. Deccan Mujahedeen, a previously unknown group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The claim has not been confirmed. Officials suspected Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) were responsible for the attack, although a spokesman for the LeT denied its involvement. Ajmal Kasab told authorities that the attack was a plan devised six months prior that hoped to kill 5,000 people, targeting whites who were preferably Americans or British. According to Kasab, the assailants posed as students during a visit to Mumbai during the previous month to familiarize themselves with the city’s roads and to film the “strike locations”. Kasab confessed to being a member of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), belonging to the LeT’s Fidayeen (suicide squad). He also identified the masterminds of the attack, who were detained after a raid on an LeT camp on 12/07/2008 and formally indicted on 05/12/2009 for their involvement in the attacks. In May 2010, Kasab was convicted and sentenced to death for his role in the attacks.Overview
GTD ID:
200811260003
When:
2008-11-26
Country:
India
Region:
South Asia
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Maharashtra
City:
Mumbai
Location Details:
The attack took place at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus/Victoria Terminus railway station in Mumbai.
What
| Target Type: Police | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name of Entity | Mumbai Police | ||
| Specific Description | Four policemen at the railway station were targeted. | ||
| Nationality of Target | India | ||
| Target Type: Transportation | |||
| Name of Entity | Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station | ||
| Specific Description | Civilians at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station | ||
| Nationality of Target | India | ||
| Hostages | No |
| Ransom | No |
| Property Damage | Unknown |
| Extent of Property Damage | Unknown |
| Value of Property Damage | Unknown |
How
| Type | Sub-type |
|---|---|
| Firearms | Automatic Weapon |
| Weapon Details | |
| Automatic firearms were used in the attack. | |
| Suicide Attack? | No |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | Yes |
| Criterion 1 (more) | Yes |
| Criterion 2 (more) | Yes |
| Criterion 3 (more) | Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper (more) | No |
| Additional Information | This was one of eight related attacks (Event IDs 200811130010, 200811260001, 200811260002, 200811260005, 200811260006, 200811260009 and 200811260010). Three Pakistan controllers who communicated with and instructed the assailants during the attack were identified as Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah, Abu Hamza and Abu Qafa. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Yusuf Muzammil were the planners behind the attack. A leading commander of the LeT group, admitted he advised the terrorists by telephone as the attack unfolded. Controllers in Pakistan watched live television and warned the gunmen of the arrival of Indian commandos, according to evidence amassed by the FBI and handed over to the Pakistani government. The American agency had decoded Skype calls over the internet that were made between the gunmen in the two five-star hotels and a Jewish hostel in Mumbai with their Lashkar controllers in Pakistan. Talking in colloquial Punjabi, the controllers repeatedly told the attackers to “Aag lagao” (“Light the fire”), which has been interpreted in India as a way of maximizing casualties. During the conversation, the men were also instructed to kill all the Israelis who were held captive in the Jewish hostel, but to spare all the Muslims. He confirmed that the 10 assailants were trained in Pakistani Kashmir and then travelled by boat from Karachi to Mumbai. The available sources listed the injuries for these attacks cumulatively as 250, so these figures have been distributed evenly for these attacks in which specific injuries were not reported in order to preserve statistical accuracy in the database. |
Who
| Group Name | Group Sub-name | Claimed Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Deccan Mujahideen | Yes (Confirmed: Unknown; Mode: Unknown) | |
| Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) | Fidayeen | Unknown |
| Number of Perpetrators | 2 |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators | 0 |
| Total Number of Casualties | 58 Fatalities / 76 Injured |
| Total Number of Fatalities | 58 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities | 0 |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities | 0 |
| Total Number of Injured | 76 |
| Number of U.S. Injured | 0 |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured | 0 |
Sources
| Press Trust of India, "Ismail Killed tTree Cops at Cama: Ajmal," Press Trust of India, November 12, 2008. |
| Press Trust of India, "Ismail Killed tTree Cops at Cama: Ajmal," Press Trust of India, November 12, 2008. |
| Press Trust of India, "Ismail Killed tTree Cops at Cama: Ajmal," Press Trust of India, November 12, 2008. |
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