Operational Targets of 2008 Mumbai Attacks
A Brief Examination of the Symbolic Objectives of the Attacks
In waging global jihad, Al Qaeda attributes symbolic or cosmic significance to specific world targets through premeditated acts of terror and destruction. Each target in Mumbai carried a special significance for Al Qaeda operatives, both in a religious and tactical sense.
In commenting on Al-Qaeda’s superior intelligence gathering in the face of other terrorist networks, Gaetano Joe Ilardi illustrates that as an instrument of terror Al Qaeda is “an organization whose actions are replete with symbolism, [and] the need to meticulously craft and orchestrate its acts of violence to convey messages to multiple audiences is of central importance.”
The five main targets of the Mumbai attacks were each chosen to deliver upon a communicative effect to Western and Muslim world audiences.
Chhartrapati Shivaji Terminus
The first and deadliest of targets, its imposing facade is a symbol of India’s architectural splendor. It is also a world UNESCO sight, but most importantly, it is India’s busiest rail station, therefore making it a prime public space for inflicting mass casualties.
It is the only target of the Mumbai attacks not predominately centering on foreign nationals or Jews as its victims. Its targeting of Hindus may have been a sort of tit-for-tat trade-off of sectarian enmity from the Kashmir-based LeT (Lashkar-E-Taiba), and could be seen as a more operational target to Al Qaeda for intensifying terror and deflecting police action from the more important Taj Mahal, Oberoi, and Nariman House that were simultaneously assaulted.
Nariman House
Medical examiners who performed autopsies on the bodies of the Jewish victims at the Nariman house spoke of unspeakable mutilations and acts of torture inflicted on the hostages, clearly meant as a warning to Zionists.
Transcriptions of intercepted phone calls made to the attacker’s unknown intelligence coordinates (listed in India’s evidence dossier as Wassi) records the caller Wassi as stating “Israel has made a request through diplomatic channels to save the hostages. If the hostages are killed, it will spoil relations between Israel and India.” This was clearly an overt political symbol meant to inflict psychological damage and lower the morale of the Zionist cause, substantiating the Salafist judgement of infidels. (see "The Religious Symbols of Al Qaeda")
Oberoi-Trident Hotel
One of India’s most prestigious five-star luxury hotels, it was frequented by foreign nationals and dignitaries. Its looming decadence was a symbol of India’s financial prosperity, and more prescient, its modern Western influences of usury and bi’da.
Transcripts of phone calls made by the attackers to presumed outside coordinators mention that the media “is comparing your actions to 9/11.” Later in the transcript the attackers are instructed to kill the hostages, except for two Muslims who are asked to step aside for the killings, thus both invoking jihad as well as following customary shar’ia.
The Taj Mahal & The Leopold Café
Though not ascribing the highest body count, it is a prime symbol of the attack, as a world icon and symbol of “corporate prestige and power” in India’s financial capital, and it contained a constant rotation of guests who were usually foreign nationals and political figures.
Intelligence coordinates communicating with attackers in the hotel made tactical use of the media’s coverage of the take-over, which led to the death of businessman Andreas Liveras after he gave a live interview on the BBC through his cell phone. He was tracked down soon by the gunman soon after the interview and shot.
Transcripts of the conversations between the attackers and intelligence coordinates also record the caller advising the attacker that there were “three Ministers and one Secretary of the Cabinet in the hotel.” The intended targeting of these politicians is presumably meant to provoke the ire of the Western authorities and legitimize the jihadist cause, as well as establishing Allah as the “supreme legislator.”
The Leopold Café is a popular eatery and hang-out for foreigners and was most likely used as a waypoint between larger targets to maximize casualties of presumably foreign nationals; however, its completely unguarded ‘soft’ position left it vulnerable to heavy casualties. Its symbolism lies in its popularity as a meeting ground for upper-class foreign infidels.
The symbols may have been merely intimated and their religious invocations are a matter of speculation, but it is clear that the attacks satisfied many variable objectives within Al Qaeda’s network, both symbolically and religiously, that has influenced new recruits in the Southeast Asia region.
Selected Sources:
Asad,Talal. On Suicide Bombing. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. 58.
Government of India, Mumbai Terrorist Attacks - Dossier of Evidence, 2009, http://www.hindu.com/nic/dossier.htm
Ilardi, Gaetano Joe. “Al Qaeda’s Operational Intelligence.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 31. 2008. 1072-1102.
Bomb Blast at Oberoi Hotel
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