18 December 2008: World Tribune
ABU DHABI — The attack on Western targets in India in November 2008 could signal a change in Al Qaida strategy. 2009.
A leading analyst said Al Qaida could be moving away from mass-casualty suicide bombings to direct attacks by combatants.
Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, a senior fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the attack in India's Mumbai, in which nearly 200 people were killed, marked a new tactic in the Islamic insurgency.
"I think we are looking at a new form of terrorism," Roy-Chaudhury told the Manama Dialogue on Dec. 13. "What we have seen in Mumbai is unprecedented. It was a very bold and brazen attack."
India has linked the Mumbai attack on luxury hotels and a Jewish community house to Al Qaida elements in Pakistan, Middle East Newsline reported. The attackers were armed with light weapons, night-vision and global positioning systems.
"In this case the terrorists were not worried that their identity would be disclosed, they did not cover themselves," Roy-Chaudhury said. "We have never seen this before and it is a lesson not only for India but all the countries -- that a group of well-planned and coordinated armed men can create havoc in a situation like that. In the past what we have seen is bomb attacks where people left them and disappeared. This was a siege for 60 hours."
The IISS analyst said the Mumbai strike could be repeated in other countries, including those in the Gulf. But Roy-Chaudhury acknowledged that GCC states were better prepared than India to foil such an effort.
"The difference is that India in many ways was a soft target in terms of its intelligence and preparation," Roy-Chaudhury said. "The Gulf countries are more secure in terms of preventing people coming and ensuring security. I don't think it would be easy for someone to replicate Mumbai in the Gulf but it is a warning to the world at large."