The evolution of Lashkar-E-Tayyiba in India and the road to 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks

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Abstract

Though Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) has acted as the best organized, best trained, most heavily armed, and indeed most prolific terrorist organization operating from Pakistan, it only began to gather significant international attention following the brutal and audacious terrorist attacks of 26 November 2008 in Mumbai. In order to carry out the attacks, ten terrorists, landed by sea, divided into five pairs and carefully targeted selected places in Mumbai. The attack lasted nearly for 66 hours and ultimately resulted in death of 166 people and 238 people injured, including civilians and security personnel. After the attacks, the evidence from the investigation overwhelmingly pointed to the Pakistan-based group, LeT, as the perpetrator of the attack. However, the 26/11 attack is not the first LeT-supported attack in India. India has been facing terrorist attacks (cross border-terrorism) for several years. This paper seeks to understand the evolution of LeT in India and map the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Secondly this paper will try to propose how the 26/11 attack is different from the previous attacks and why Mumbai has been targeted several times and what is the real motive behind.