This book is perhaps one of the most detailed books on the attacks of 26/11 Mumbai. The book has very minute details. And this is a book I would recommend to anyone who wants to know the whole event with as much detail as possible.
Intelligence authorities and Maharashtra Police had started receiving intel about Lashker-e-toiba planning of a terrorist attack in Mumbai since August 2006. They received 25 such warnings in total. 3 included use of “fidayeen”, guerrilla armed with guns and bombs whose goal is to kill and maim as many people as they can. 6 warnings included mention of possibility of seaborne attack. These warnings also mentioned that 5 star hotels like Trident-Oberoi, The Taj Hotel, tourist places like The Gateway of India and The Leopold Cafe. 11 warnings mentioned that there would be simultaneous multiple attacks using AK-47s, grenades and explosives. These intelligence were delivered to RA&W by CIA. After getting such warnings, Vishwas Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone I, decided to increase the security. He went and talked to the respective authorities of the hotels, discussed the danger with them and recommended them to increase their security. He suggested 26 measures, some of them included single door for entry, metal detectors, bag checking, blast barriers, snipers on the roof, and armed police officers. At first, the hotels declined the recommendations by stating that these measures would reduce the luxurious experience of the hotel. But after a terrorist attack in a 5 star hotel in Islamabad, the hotels agreed to take some of the security measures. Other than hotel security, Patil also focused on increasing coastal security. But after talking to the DCP responsible for port security he learnt that they were under-funded. They didn’t have a single speed boat to chase suspects. He then used his own money to hire local fishing boats. Security and administration were lazy and incompetent as the study group that was responsible of making a report and suggesting new safety measures was late by many months.
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David Headley alias Daood Sayed Gilani, was one of the most important people for the mission. Without him the attack would have been delayed by a long time. Daood was half American and half Pakistani. Born to Sayed Salim Gilani (Pakistani) and
Alice Serrill Headley (American), in Washington DC, US. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Pakistan. There he was the odd one out because of his fair complexion. Over time he got himself into smuggling. He got arrested for smuggling multiple times in the US. Later, he was allowed to be free again only if he helped US authorities to catch other smugglers. His missions included him visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan. During these trips, he got influenced by Lashkar and started growing resentful towards India and wanted to take revenge from India. After trying multiple times, he was finally recruited to collect intel for the mission in Mumbai. He was sent to Mumbai where he portrayed himself as a businessman. He had 3 wives. First, Shazia Ahmed in Lahore, second, Portia Peter in the US, and third, Faiza Outalha. Out of these three, Portia Peter and Faiza tried to contact the American Authorities that their husband might be included in some terrorist. Portia even told them how David believed that the September 11 attack was done rightly and the US deserved it. His third wife, Faiza, went to US embassy about his frequents visits to Mumbai and how every time he came back he cursed India, how when with Lashkar, he was a devout muslim and cursed US for waging war in Iran and Afghanistan. But regardless of the complaints no actions were taken against him. In Mumbai, he even befriended Rahul Bhatt, son of a famous Bollywood director. David’s job was to roam around the city, look for targets, collect maps of the city, maps and design of hotels, etc. He would often take boat rides to look for the spots for the landing of the terrorists. A double agent of ISI named, Honey bee, was in parliament and he provided Lashkar with secret information such as police training manuals and security information. In July 2008, David Headley started his last surveillance. Another target was added to the hit-list, Chabad House a jewish welfare centre. Other targets were The Taj, Trident-Oberoi and CST. This suggestion was given by a team of sixteen Indians Lashkar recruited to help in making the hit-list. During the last days of the mission, David was excluded from the meetings and planning as he might pass on the information to Americans. Feeling a cold shoulder from Lashkar, Headley began preparing for the safety of his family. He made a will and made his friend, Rana, the executor. He wanted his second wife Faiza to receive $350 every month and move to Canada as soon as possible. For this, she would be given $6000 and the ticket booked. Shazia was supposed to go back to her father after the death of husband. He asked Rana to get his sons into Aitchison college, Pakistan's most prestigious private school, whose alumni is cricketer turned politician Imran Khan.
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Lashkar was supported by the locals of Pakistan as they would do charity work like organising medical camps, providing relief during disasters, organising events, etc. This allowed them to gain more recruits. Lashkar had recruited 32 recruits for the Mumbai mission. They issued a number instead of the name. Before starting the bone-breaking 350 mile journey, the men were frisked for cigarettes, opium and tobacco, before being photographed and fingerprinted. They were not allowed to leave without an instructor for fear of contaminating the outfit. Their sleeping, eating, and praying, were regulated. Talking about the home was discouraged and they had only one monitored call per week to home.
Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist who was caught alive by Indian Police, was born in 1987 in Faridkot, Punjab, Pakistan. Ajmal and his four siblings came from the family of goat herders which later started selling meat, a job apt for their surname "Kasab" which roughly translates to "butcher". The family was very poor, they had no toilet or electricity in their home. His father worked far away in Lahore, earning 400 rupees per week. They slept toe to foot. Ajmal was the second son, his name meant "The handsome one". In 1999, his father caught TB due to which he had to work locally earning half of his earning; forcing Ajmal to start working as a toilet cleaner at the age of 14. After working for 6 years, he switched to a different job and eventually got into looting people's homes at night along with Muzzafar, a friend he made. Later, they were secretly recruited in Lashkar's 2 week conversion program by an old man who fed them rice and mutton while they were trying to buy a handgun in Rawalpindi.
Chacha Zaki, one of the handler of the terrorists during the attack, came from Okara, 20 miles away from Faridkot. In 1980s, he fought in the secret Afghan War. Later on, he joined a lecturer at Lahore's university of engineering, Hafiz Saeed. In 1990, they together formed Lashkar-e-Toiba to spread a message that those who fled and their descendants could take revenge by destroying India, piece by piece. Lashkar spent a lot of money and time on the propoganda. They glorified the "martyr" or "shaheed" to attract more and more recruits. Lashkar spent about euro 1000 on each recruit for training them. Lashar had a lot of people from the army including people who left army because they lost their faith in Army and Lakshar gave them hope of liberating Kashmir from India. Over time they moved to more and more remote areas for intense training. These bases were Maskar-e-Ummalkura and the Al-Aqsa (named after the third holiest site in Islam, the mosque in Jerusalem). Here they practiced with live-fire. They hurled grenades, shot off round until their arms were numb. They climbed with packs into the icy night, as Qahafa the bull (one of the handler along with Chacha Zaki) and Al-Qama (Member of Lashkar) ambushed them, firing shots over their heads and between their feet. Towards the end of July, they were paired into "buddies" and began their two-man commando training. They learnt how to enter and clear a room, criss-crossing each other at the doorway, how to shield doors from blasts by holding a mattress against the door, how to take hostages, and take out information from them. Their final test was 3 days without food, water or maps, in the woods being hunted by the instructors. After completion of this, they received a knife, a goat and a matchbox to make their own victory meal. While on a visit to Islamabad, Headley was tasked to buy 10 bag-packs one for each attacker. The bags had "changing the tide" which Headley thought was an appropriate tag line for a seaborne attack. Meanwhile in India, the sleeper cells, code named mice or choohe bought 5 identical Nokia 1200 mobile set and sims, one for each group of 2 attackers.
Lashkar had a special room dedicated for all the information and media monitoring. The team who handled it were young unemployed IT engineers, who were codenamed "The Owls". The owls had conceived an invisibility cloak to remotely control attackers in India after they had landed. They had rented Internet phone lines and phone numbers from Call Phonex, a company in New Jersey, US. The legitimate service was popular among migrant customers who needed to make cheap calls to family and friends thousands of miles away, using a VoIP system similar to Skype. The gunmen in Mumbai would be able to use local, prepaid Indian SIM cards, to dial leased international numbers in Austria that diverted the calls via Callphonex to Pakistan. It would be difficult for Indian investigators to unravel, as everything beyond the US hub was invisible. They were given the street tour using Google Earth to train the recruits for navigating in the city and hotels.
They were now again divided into 5 teams of two members: