Mumbai: The terror attack in Paris that claimed at least 127 lives bears a striking resemblance with the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, which had left 166 dead in the financial hub of India seven years ago.
Former chief of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) K P Raghuvanshi told PTI, "Though details about the modus operandi of the Paris terror attacks are yet to be divulged, on the basis of whatever preliminary information or reports we have received, we can say that the modus operandi mostly matches with Mumbai attacks."
Drawing parallels between the Friday night multiple attacks in Paris and 26/11 terror let loose by LeT in Mumbai, in which Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab was captured, Raghuvanshi said in both the attacks foreign tourists were targeted to intimidate global communities.
"Timing of the attack, style of combating by coming in a group, selecting multiple locations, targeting the civilians at places of gathering or iconic spots, targeting of international tourists to intimidate global communities, opening indiscriminate firing with guns and granades were some of similarities between the attacks in the two capitals," he added.
Raghuvanshi, who was the chief of ATS, which handled the investigation of 26/11 attacks, however, said that the one of the differences was that in France, the attackers came as suicide bombers.
"But I must add here that city police and the state government learnt a lesson from the attack, and if such incidents take place again, terrorists would be neutralised immediately," Raghuvanshi added.
Defence and security analyst Brigadier (Rtd) Hemant Mahajan said that in terms of use of weapons, intelligence failure as well as modus operendi there had been 70 per cent similarities in attacks in the two mega cities.
Terming both the attacks as the results of failure of "generic intelligence" or "actionable intelligence", Mahajan, a member of Forum for Integrated National Security, an NGO presenting blueprint of country's security, said, "If we talk about the disparities then we find that in Mumbai terrorists had entered the city via coastal route, while in Paris they entered by intermingling with locals."
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