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 ISIS 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."
