Lashkar-Qaeda combo most probably responsible for Mumbai terror strikes

Washington, Nov.27 : A terror expert who contributes analytical pieces to Fox News believes that Wednesday's planned and synchronized terror strikes in India's financial capital Mumbai, had the hallmarks of banned militant groups like the Lashkar e Toiba or the SIMI.

"These groups are jihadists, have links to the other organizations in Kashmir but also inside Pakistan with pro-Taliban elements and eventually Al Qaeda. The ideological identification is most likely jihadist although the group almost surely will issue a release to claim the attack," Fox News quotes the expert, as saying.

The expert further goes on to say that the operation is of a very new type India.

"Young boys ages 22 to 25 carried out these acts and bombs have been defused at different places. In our estimate this is a large jihadi operation against one of the emerging economies and one of the largest democracies in Asia. The goal is to target India as a power engaged in the War on Terror but also to further destabilize the region, including Pakistan and its neighbor Afghanistan," he said.

"In our estimate, this attack is a "complex" type, where small operations are aimed at creating chaos and triggering security deployment in many areas, while more precise operations could target higher targets such as hostage taking or similar situation," he concludes.

ANI