Deadly bombings in India have "hallmarks of an al Qaeda operation"
It truly is a *global* war on terror
By Jeff Emanuel Posted in Al Qaeda | Bangladesh | GWOT | India | Long War Journal | Pakistan | terrorism | War — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Eight bombs were detonated today in Jaipur, India, killing at least 60 people and injuring at least 200. A ninth bomb was found and disarmed by Indian authorities.
The blasts occurred within a dozen minutes of each other, according to the Times of India. Indian authorities have said that early evidence points to the terrorist attacks being the work of the Bangladesh-based al Qaeda affiliate Harkat ul Jihad al Islami, or "HuJI-B."
The Long War Journal is reporting that "some officials believe the Pakistani-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group assisted in the attacks," as well.
Read on.
"There was blood all around and wounded people crawling on the ground"
According to the AP:
[The] blasts were within the old walls of the western city known for its pink-hued palaces, and suspicion quickly fell on Islamic militant groups blamed for a string of attacks in India in recent years. Police said an eighth bomb was found and defused by police."Obviously, it's a terrorist" attack, said A.S. Gill, the police chief of Rajasthan, the state where Jaipur is located. "The way it has been done, the attempt was to cause the maximum damage to human life."
The explosions began around 7:30 p.m. One went off at a market near a temple dedicated to the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. Tuesday is the day of worship set aside for Hanuman, and the temple was crowded with people offering prayers on the way home from work.
Another bomb detonated near the Johari Bazaar, the city's jewelry market that is a popular destination for tourists. The tourist season ended in March, however, and there were no immediate indication that foreigners had been caught in any of the explosions.
Parikshit Bhandari, who saw the attack near the jewelry market, said there was "blood all around and wounded people crawling on the ground."
Bombing sites were littered with dropped shopping bags, mangled bicycles, damaged cars and overturned bicycle rickshaws, the most popular mode of transport in the crowded lanes of Jaipur.
HuJI-B
According to the LWJ:
HuJI-B fighters are recruited from madrassa, or religious schools, in Bangladesh and are trained in al Qaeda and Taliban camps Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Bangladeshi terror group plays a crucial role in training jihadists “from southern Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and Brunei” and providing manpower for al Qaeda's affiliates in Jammu and Kashmir, Afghanistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Chechnya.
According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal:
HuJI aims to establish Islamic Hukumat [rule] in Bangladesh by waging war and killing progressive intellectuals.
It draws inspiration from [Osama] bin Laden and the erstwhile Taliban regime of Afghanistan. At one point of time, the groups issued a slogan, "Amra Sobai Hobo Taliban, Bangla Hobe Afghanistan" (We will all become Taliban and we will turn Bangladesh into Afghanistan).
A Global War on Terror
Once again, the Global nature of the Global War on Terror has been brought into sharp relief by a terrorist attack on a non-American interest.
Unfortunately, the network-based, truly international world of the modern terrorist is something that many seem to allow themselves to be blinded to for the purpose of maintaining their black-and-white worldview or their political purity.
While we not only allow ourselves to be constrained by borders and diplomatic concerns with regard to prosecution of the so-called GWOT -- not to mention fight battle after battle in the media and in the halls of Congress about whether or not the U.S. is even correct to fight terrorists anywhere at all -- the international terrorist recognizes no such borders or boundaries, moving from region to region to carry out these acts with little regard for borders or policy.
In other words, the terrorists we are ostensibly taking the fight to don't seem to recognize that "the real War on Terror is [only] in Afghanistan -- and until those who dictate (or at least help shape, through honest proposals or simply through staunch opposition) our national security and offensive military policy realize that and act on that realization, we will continue to be behind the 8-ball -- and behind overall -- in our fight against the very real terrorist threat.
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Deadly bombings in India have "hallmarks of an al Qaeda operation" 4 Comments (0 topical, 4 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
As was so well put by LTC James Crider, commander of the 1-4 CAV, a unit with which I was embedded in Baghdad last Spring, they don't necessarily want "themselves" alive either.
"There may be some reconcilables" in JAM and other sects, Quarter Cav's commanding officer, Lt. Colonel James Crider, told me, "but the bottom line [on al Qaeda] is that these are very bad guys who want to create as much chaos as they can."
What the West simply doesn't seem to grasp, he said, is that these terrorists cannot be appeased or brought into the political process. "They'll kill all the Shia they can," he said, "and then they'll kill all of the less-radical Sunni. And then, when there is nobody else left to kill, they'll start killing each other."
In other words, the actions of al Qaeda in Iraq and their counterparts in various cells and sects are not -- as is argued by some -- simply a result of the American actions; no amount of appeasement, of apology, or of attempted reconciliation will cause them to renounce their brutal ways.
(I encourage you, of course, to read the whole thing.)
AQ would bomb any one any where they could get away with it...they don't want anyone alive but themselves.
Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion