‘Rebeldes maoístas mataram 40 soldados indianos em emboscadas‘ in BBC

At least 40 soldiers have been killed after Maoist rebels launched a series of attacks on security convoys in central India, police say.

Rebels first attacked paramilitary forces engaged in an anti-Maoist offensive in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh state early on Tuesday.

Police said that two subsequent rescue missions were then ambushed by rebels. Clashes are still ongoing, reports say.

Thousands have died during the rebels' 20-year fight for communist rule.

The Indian government recently began a major offensive against the rebels in several states.

Repeat ambushes

At least nine soldiers were also injured in the Chhattsigarh attacks. Officials say that the rebels initially attacked a convoy of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the Talmetla area.

RK Vij, a spokesman for the CRPF, told a news channel that about 80 soldiers were attacked by some 1,000 rebels.

He said the convoy was returning to its camp after a military operation.

"The injured troops have been evacuated by helicopter. More reinforcements have been sent," Mr Vij said.

The rebels then attacked a convoy of troops which had been sent to rescue their colleagues. A third rescue party was also attacked by rebels, police said, adding that clashes were still ongoing.

It is unclear how many soldiers were killed in each attack.

The rebels have warned that such attacks would intensify unless the government halted its offensive against them.

Home Minister P Chidambaram has threatened to intensify the offensive if the rebels did not start talks by renouncing violence.

The Maoists have said they would agree to talks if four of their senior leaders now in jail were released and the offensive was halted.

Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India's "greatest internal security challenge".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8604256.stm

‘Bombaim: uma mensagem para Obama‘ in Asharq Alawsat, 28 de Novembro de 2008

por Tariq Alhomayed

Over the past few years, it has been easy for most people in most places to attack US President George W. Bush, who is preparing to leave the White House, as they attributed mistakes and crises to him forgetting that the war on terror is still in its early stages. Not only did they criticize him for the methodology in dealing with terrorism, rather they have made him a scapegoat for everything.

The one to benefit the most from all of this was US President-elect Barack Obama. However, the Mumbai terrorist attacks in India that have left over 130 people dead represent a clear message to Obama, if not the entire world. It is a message for one person specifically whose positions are still being formed.

The Mumbai operation is a message to President-elect Barack Obama to say: you have dreams of a better world but this is the real world that you must deal with. In spite of how you have arranged your priorities, terrorism will always be at the top of the list.

The coordinated terrorist attacks that targeted roughly ten places in Mumbai including a hospital, cafes, restaurants, hotels as well as communication outlets, and foreign tourists, are evidence that the serpent of terrorism is still alive and strong.

Moreover, the methods that were used in the terrorist operation prove that [fighting] terrorism is not the responsibility of one country, it requires international efforts. According to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the attackers came from outside India “to create havoc in India’s commercial capital.”

As the hostages of various nationalities remain in captivity in India’s commercial capital, Mumbai, global interest of the event continues to grow and when the terrorist operation is over, the facts that cannot be ignored will remain.

India is an influential country politically, economically, and even with regards to technology. It has international weight as it is not a marginal country that the world can overlook. In addition, there are other significant meanings to the statement that the perpetrators came from outside India.

This reminds us of the raging battlefronts in Pakistan and Afghanistan where there is open confrontation with Al Qaeda and the Taliban and this is an issue that President-elect Obama has spoken about several times on the basis that the foundation of the war on terror is Afghanistan.

But the questions remain: Can America fight terrorism on its own? Can it rebuild Afghanistan that has been destroyed essentially since the Soviet invasion? Can Washington ignore Iraq at the expense of Afghanistan?

The problem of terrorism does not only afflict the country in which it exists; the danger lies in ignoring it. For the countries that believe that they are distant from the issue of terrorism, it will soon catch up with them; in fact it is on their doorstep. The danger of what is happening in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan is that it is concentrated in a region in which ignorance, tribalism and nuclear weapons come together.

However it is important here to highlight that the terrorist incident in India may be indicative of greater danger to come. On Wednesday, a warning was issued that terrorists might target the New York transit system and this reminds of the circumstances the surrounded 9/11 – it started with the targeting of American embassies and the USS Cole bombing in Yemen and then came the New York attacks that shocked the world – bearing in mind that America is going through transition of power.

Therefore, we must say that those who love peace and who want to wipe out terrorism are countless…but the road to its elimination is a long one.

http://www.asharqalawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=14869
JPTF 2008/11/29

‘Terroristas pretendiam destruir símbolo do esplendor indiano‘ in Times, 27 de Novembro de 2008

It felt like India’s 9/11. Even in a country whose experience of terrorism dates back to its independence in 1947, the sight of Bombay’s Taj Mahal Palace hotel in flames after last night’s attacks was something that no one could ever have imagined.

For this was one of the nation’s most famous landmarks, an iconic building that encapsulated both the pomp and grandeur of the British Raj and the enduring vibrancy of India’s film and financial capital.

It was built in 1903 by Jamsetji N. Tata, the Indian industrialist, who believed that Bombay needed a grand hotel to take its place among the great cities of the world.

As thick black smoke billowed from its domed roof, and flames poured through its gothic arched windows, one Indian television anchor summed up the feelings of millions of watching Indians. “If America cannot forget the images of the World Trade Centre, this image of fire billowing out of this beautiful structure which represents Mumbai and its free spirit will not be forgotten here,” he said.

The symbolism was clearly no accident. The gunmen who stormed into the Taj last night appear to have set off a series of explosions with the specific intent of destroying the building.

Police suspect that they arrived by boat, mooring by the Gateway of India that was built in honour of King George V and Queen Mary in 1928.

They began their audacious assault at around 9.30pm by bursting into the hotel that was built in the Moorish, Oriental and Florentine styles on the waterfront overlooking the Arabian Sea. They opened fire indiscriminately on the crowd of well-heeled Indians and foreigners milling around the ornate lobby, with its famous cantilever stairway, onyx columns and crystal chandeliers.

As the masked gunmen started to move through the hotels’ corridors looking for foreigners, staff managed to warn many of the guests to stay in their rooms.

At 2.30am the army surrounded the building and began to storm it. At about 3.30am the fire started on the top floors of the hotel after a series of explosions and intermittent gunfire.

Firefighters tried to douse the flames but they were still raging by around 5am when there was a pause in the shooting.

Police said that nine gunmen were arrested and two were killed at the Taj. As about 100 terrified guests were finally evacuated from the hotel, the firefighters emerged too and described the scenes of devastation inside the pride of Bombay, with up to 100 guests still unaccounted for. “There’s major damage inside,” a fireman said as he emerged from the heritage wing of the hotel.

These were the rooms that had entertained everyone from Maharajahs and foreign heads of state to rock stars and billionaire industrialists.

The Beatles stayed in the hotel during their obsession with India, and John Lennon famously stayed with Yoko Ono in the hotel’s Rajput Suite, eating only from a macrobiotic menu specially prepared by the Taj’s chefs.

Royalty has often used the hotel, and members of the British royal family including Prince Charles, Prince Edward and Prince Phillip have stayed there, as have the King and Queen of Norway.

Other pop royalty has checked in, including Mick Jagger and Elvis Presley. Bill Clinton, the former US President, was also a guest.

Last night the corridors echoed with the sound of gunfire and explosions as the gunmen battled with the Maharashtra state police’s elite Anti-Terrorism Squad.

Hement Karkare, the squad’s head, was shot in the chest in the operation and soon succumbed to his wounds near the spot where Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, founded the Goa Liberation Group in the 1950s to demand the return of the Portuguese colony.

In its opulence, the hotel was often cited as an example of the contrast between the poverty-stricken slums of Bombay and the lavish grandeur of hotels that charge up to £2,000 per night for a room, over double the average annual income of an Indian citizen.

But even to ordinary Mumbaikers, as Bombay’s residents are known, it was a source more of pride than of envy — a majestic reminder of their city’s place in the world.

“Home to the royalty, heads of states, tycoons, captains of industry, corporate nomads and jet-setters, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower is a living tribute to Mumbai’s cosmopolitan ethos and dynamic spirit,” says the Taj’s website.

Now it stands, perhaps, as a monument to Indian terrorism — and the thousands of victims it has claimed since the country’s independence.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5241795.ece
JPTF 2008/11/27