Mumbai India Under Seige By Terrorists – With Video – Update

Over 80 dead and over 200 wounded so far. Terrible. The Oberoi and Taj Mahal Hotels have been taken over by terrorists as well as Cama Hospital. Several large explosions from inside. This is a very coordinated attack.

Other Locations of attacks:

• Vile Parle
• Santa Cruz
• Leopold Cafe
• Nariman House
• CST
• Colama
• Albless Hospital
• GT Hospital

A  Muslim terrorist group called Deccan Mujahideen has taken claim for the attacks. This is a fairly unknown group.

The terrorists are targeting American and British citizens.

This is on the heals of todays Homeland Security warning of a possible NYC subway attack…

Gunmen rampaged through a series of targets in the Indian city of Mumbai killing indiscriminately and taking hostages at two luxury hotels.

    

A wounded man is carried from the attacked rail station.

more photos »

Mumbai police spokesman Satish Katsa said gunmen have taken over the Taj Mahal Hotel and Hotel Oberoi, and were holding hostages on multiple floors.

Flames and smoke poured from the Taj early Thursday, and several explosions were heard at the building.

At the Oberoi the military reportedly entered the building and a large explosion was heard shortly afterwards.

Another hostage situation was unfolding at Cama Hospital, CNN’s sister network in India, CNN-IBN reported.

Earlier, A.N. Roy, the police chief of Maharashtra state, said there were ongoing battles at the two five-star hotels. iReport.com: Are you there?

One witness told local reporters that gunmen tried to find people with U.S. or British passports and took about 15 of them hostage.

Andrew Stevens, a CNN anchor who was staying at the Taj with a CNN crew, estimated about half the hotel’s guests were Westerners.  Watch flames pour from the Taj Mahal Hotel »

British businessman Alan Jones told CNN.com how he was about to get out of an elevator in the Oberoi when another guest was shot.

“A bullet hit one of the Japanese men in the back of the leg. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere.” Read Alan Jones’ story

IBN, quoting police sources, reported hostages were taken at the both hotels.

Gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades hit nine sites including the hotels, a cafe, a hospital and a train station in coordinated attacks, police say.

A police spokesman said 87 people had been killed and 185 wounded. Among the dead were nine suspected terrorists, police said.

Among the dead is the head of the Maharashtra state’s anti-terror squad, who apparently died in the violent aftermath of the attacks rather than being a target for the killers.

Two suspected militants were gunned down and nine suspects had been arrested, Gagrani said. Three people were detained for questioning from one of the hotels, he added.  Watch the chaos as gunmen hit numerous targets »

Sajjad Karim, associated with a group of European lawmakers attending an upcoming EU-India summit, told The Associated Press that he was in the main lobby of the Taj Mahal Hotel when “there was all of a sudden a lot of firing outside.”

As he tried to get away, he told the AP: “Another gunmen appeared in front of us, carrying machine gun-type weapons. And he just started firing at us. … I just turned and ran in the opposite direction.”

Video showed scenes of chaos, with people crowding Mumbai’s streets, some helping others who appeared to be wounded.  Watch scenes of destruction »

The attacks began about 2230 local time (1700 GMT) and more than two hours later witnesses were reporting new explosions and gunfire.

A group called Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility, IBN reported, but analysts told CNN that may be a front name to throw investigators off who was really behind the attacks.

The targets include businesses frequented by international visitors in the city which is India’s financial center.

A local journalist told CNN he had seen evidence of an attack at the city’s domestic airport, which is on the outskirts of the Mumbai.

IBN reported explosions at a gas station and inside a taxi on a dockside road.

Attacks were carried out at the Taj and Oberoi hotels, the popular Café Leopold, and Cama Hospital, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station.

Sourav Mishra, a Reuters.com reporter, was with friends at the Cafe Leopold when gunmen opened fire.

International hotlines

U.S.: 1 888 407 4747

“I heard some gunshots … Something hit me. I ran away and fell on the road. Then somebody picked me up. I have injuries below my shoulder,” Mishra said from a hospital bed he was sharing with three other people.

India has suffered a number of attacks in recent years, including a string of bombs that ripped through packed Mumbai commuter trains and platforms during rush hour in July 2006. About 209 people were killed in that attack.

Last July, a series of synchronized bomb blasts in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad left 49 dead and more than 100 wounded, police said.

But Paresh Parihar, a businessman in Mumbai, described Wednesday’s attacks as unlike anything he had seen.

“They really don’t fear for their lives or any other activity that could put them in danger,” he told CNN. “This is really a very unusual situation.”

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said: “We are monitoring the situation very closely and stand ready to support the Indian authorities as they deal with this horrific series of attacks.”

The U.S. has opened a telephone hotline for citizens concerned about family or friends who may be visiting or living Mumbai. 

Barcelona Jihadists Only One Of Several Al Qaeda Cells Poised To Attack Europe

The Jihadists in Spain seem to be the tip of the iceberg… It appears from information provided by possible French Intel informant that attacks were planned in Spain, Germany, France, Britain and Portugal.

The Barcelona cell include six suicide bombers, other cells are publicly unknown at this time. I am sure each consisted of about the same number of operatives.

This would have enabled Al Qaeda to show a sign of strength at a time when they are appearing weak and loosing ground in Iraq.

Europe seems to be the prime target for Al Qaeda at this point and they have a strong base to hide in Muslim communities and many European countries. I hope Europeans start to recognize the seriousness of the threat they face and start to do something about it before these scumbags do successfully attack again…

The time for complacency is over.

MADRID, Spain (CNN)— Suspected Islamic extremists arrested last week in Barcelona were planning al Qaeda-style attacks in Spain, Germany, France, Britain and Portugal, according to an informant who “infiltrated” the group, Spain’s El Pais newspaper reports.

Interior Ministry photo of bomb-making material found after suspected Islamic militants were arrested.

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“If we attack the metro [subway system in Barcelona], the emergency services can’t get there,” one of the suspected suicide bombers told the informant, El Pais reported on Saturday. “Our preference is public transport, especially the metro.”

El Pais reported that it had access to the informant’s testimony to Spanish officials.

CNN has confirmed that authorities have given high importance to an informant’s testimony.

The judge who ordered 10 suspects held for allegedly plotting a suicide attack in Barcelona, cited in his rulings the testimony of an informant. CNN has viewed the rulings.

Spain’s Interior Minister last Friday said an informant warned of a planned suicide attack against Barcelona’s metro on the weekend of January 18 to 20. But he added that, for now, “there is only the testimony of an informant” regarding the timing.

The informant told authorities the cell comprised six suicide bombers, including himself, El Pais reported on Saturday.

Spain’s attorney general, Candido Conde-Pumpido, said last week that the cell could have contained six suicide bombers, two explosives experts and two ideologues.

Judge Ismael Moreno, in rulings last Wednesday, wrote that the informant had named three suspected suicide bombers and an explosives expert, all of whom had traveled from Pakistan to Barcelona since last summer. The judge ordered these four men held, out the total of 10 jailed suspects who are from South Asia.

They include nine Pakistani nationals and a man from India, who is Muslim.

A court-appointed translator told CNN that all 10 suspects testified during their arraignments that they were innocent.

The cell planned three attacks in Spain, one in Germany and others in France, Britain and Portugal, according to the informant, El Pais reported.

On Sunday, another El Pais story added that the “wave of attacks” was to have been carried out by the Barcelona group and other extremist Pakistani cells were to attack elsewhere in Europe.

The informant told authorities about potential links between the Barcelona group and suspected extremists in other countries, the interior minister said Friday.

The informant had traveled by train from France to Barcelona on January 16, a few days before police made arrests in Barcelona, El Pais reported Saturday. A day earlier, the newspaper reported that the informant worked for French intelligence.

Al Qaeda was planning to take responsibility for the first attack in Barcelona through Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander whom the Pakistani government blames for last month’s assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, El Pais reported.

“Only the leadership of the organization knows what requests the emir (Baitullah) will make after the first attack, but if they are not carried out, there will be a second attack in Spain, and a third,” a cell leader told the informant, El Pais reported. “And then in Germany, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom. There are many people prepared there.”

In Barcelona, two pairs of suicide bombers were to attack in separate metro stations, the paper said, citing the informant’s testimony. One of the cell leaders said the bombs were supposed to be hidden in backpacks or bags and that other cell members were to detonate them by remote control, the paper added.

Two other pairs of suicide bombers were to strike elsewhere in Spain, while another suicide bomber was to attack in Germany, although the informant said he did not know where or when those attacks were to occur, El Pais reported.

Three other terrorists were assigned to attack in France and two in Portugal, El Pais reported, although it did not mention locations or times for those attacks either.

Civil Guards initially detained 14 people in Barcelona, but released two before arraignments last Wednesday. The judge then released two more, leaving 10 in jail for further investigation. It was not immediately known if the alleged informant may have been among those arrested and released.

“This cell was preparing to attack,” Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Friday in an interview with Spanish radio network SER. “It’s clear they were going to try, whether last weekend (January 18 to 20) or within 15 days.”

But he said police have not found explosives “in sufficient quantity” to have carried out the assault.

“We have found a modest quantity of explosives,” Rubalcaba said, adding that they may have been intended for use in training the suspects.

The judge in his rulings wrote that the group “had achieved human operational capacity and were very close to achieving full technical capacity with explosives, with the aim of using those explosives for a jihadi terrorist attack.”

Rubalcaba said that, for any such suspected terrorist cell, “the time from getting explosives to carrying out the attack can be very short.”

The judge wrote that police had found nitrocellulose and mechanical and electrical elements that could have been used to make one or more bombs.

More than 300 suspected Islamic extremists have been arrested in Spain since the Madrid train bombings killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 on March 11, 2004, Rubalcaba said.

Last October, more than a dozen Islamic extremists were convicted in Madrid for their roles in the train bombings.

The 2004 bombings came just three days before general elections, in which Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won an upset victory.

The latest arrests in Barcelona come less than two months before the next general elections, to be held March 9, when Zapatero seeks re-election.

Spain remains on “permanent alert” against Islamic terrorism. Al Qaeda communiques regularly make specific references to Spain

Manhunt For 3 Jihadists

Al Qaeda has set it’s sites on Spain yet again. I guess with their inability to strike within the US they are going after Europe still. Germany, Britan and Spain seem to the their prime targets… Why? I guess they have integrated themselves into the Muslim neighborhoods so well, they are hard to weed out… A key note is where these guys are from, Pakistan… I think it is time the world brings pressure on the Pakistanian Government to step up their efforts or allow other forces to intervene and hunt down the leaders of the terror organizations that are using Pakistan as a base camp.

Law enforcement officials throughout Europe say they are are urgently hunting for members of an al Qaeda terror cell that was allegedly planning to attack the transit system in Barcelona.

Terror Suspects Planned Coordinated Suicide Bombs, Sources Say

Sources tell ABC News those being sought are believed to be bomb makers and suicide killers who were working with a 14-member operation.

While it is unclear whether the Barcelona attacks were imminent, Spanish authorities say they have no doubt that the threat was serious.

The plot was allegedly developed by senior al Qaeda leaders hiding in Pakistan, with members of the cell making their way into Spain in recent days.

“Here we are looking at something different: a well-organized group who were going beyond ideological radicalism to acquiring materials to make explosives and therefore eventually to carry out violent attacks,” Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said at a press conference last week.

U.S. officials tell ABC News that in the wake of the thwarted attacks on Barcelona’s transit system they are deeply troubled by this latest example of a reconstituted al Qaeda.

The National Intelligence Estimate released last year warned that al Qaeda was training scores of recruits in the tribal regions of Pakistan.

“If this story is true, it means that al Qaeda is alive. It has money. It has people that are trained. It has a network to send people — large numbers of people — out as a team and that it has the capability of striking thousands of miles from its base in Pakistan,” former government counter-intelligence official and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke said of this latest incident.

Terror Threat: ‘Safe Havens’ Breeding Terrorist Activity

The pace of plots directed or inspired by al Qaeda has been intensifying in recent months, with Europe as the focus.

Last September in Germany, three Islamic radicals were accused of targeting U.S. military installations there.

Also in September in Denmark, suspected terrorists were charged with planning a bombing campaign.

Then in December, Belgian authorities arrested 14 men who were allegedly plotting to free an al Qaeda prisoner using guns and explosives.

Now U.S. officials say they are desperately searching to see if the Barcelona cell has ties to any operatives in the United States.

U.S. intelligence has been warning for months that Europe is at risk and could be the gateway to an attack here at home.

Three more Jihadist from Spain’s investigation are at large and their target is unknown at this time, I would imagine it is somewhere else in Spain as these groups tend to plan their attacks to be coordinated to maximize the terror factor… Although they may strike elsewhere as their original targets are surely being watched closer at this point…

ABC News has learned that the manhunt that began in Spain for suspected terror cell members has now extended to France and other European Union countries.

The attorney general in Spain said today that there are three cell members they are urgently searching for and that the missing members could be suicidal terrorists with a mission to attack somewhere outside of Spain.

Investigative sources tell ABC News the cell members are Spanish residents, including both nationals and foreigners. They are believed to have recently traveled to Spain from Waziristan, Pakistan, an area known as a hotbed for al Qaeda training and Taliban resurgence.

The 14 suspected terrorists arrested last weekend in Spain were in the final stages of preparing a suicide attack using multiple bombs, according to sources close to the investigation being conducted by Spanish Central Intelligence (CNI) and the Guardia Civil Islamic Counterterrorist Unit.

The men were of Pakistani, Indian and other ethnic backgrounds. Many appear to be legal residents of Spain, but some of the suspects’ legal statuses are still unknown. One of the men arrested, Maroof Ahmaed Mirza, is described as an Imam, a legal resident of Spain and a Pakistani national.

The raids capped what was known as Operation Cantata and took place in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona after authorities established the readiness of the group based on intercepts and informant information, sources told ABCNews.com.

Seven searches were conducted, including searches of two mosques, according to police reports. Investigators seized four timers, described as “mechanical clocks without numbered spheres,” various empty pyrotechnic cartridges, multi-colored wires, latex gloves, kitchen gloves, severe batteries of varying voltages, cables used for detonators and other various materials, according to an inventory of the searches.

Spanish authorities believe the intended target was the Barcelona subway system and that the plot would have used two to four suicide bombers wearing explosive vests that were to be detonated simultaneously while another plotter detonated three to four more devices placed in the subway, investigative sources told ABC News. The Barcelona rapid transit system has 150 stations along nine lines and runs over 71 miles. It serves 1.6 million residents in Spain’s second largest city.

“For this reason, the Barcelona rail system makes a great target for the Islamic radicals coming to Spain,” said a source close to the case. “The (Raval) area of Barcelona has become a great location for the al Qaeda cells for recruitment, financial support and possible targets.”

Spanish Judge Rules 10 of 12 Suspects Are Jihadists Planning To Attack Barcelona

Spanish judge  says that 10 of the 12 recently arrested Jihadists in Spain were planning suicide attacks against public transportation services in Barcelona. In his ruling he stated that they had already reached human capabilities and were very close to technical capabilities to carry out such an attack.

MADRID, Spain (CNN) — The Spanish judge overseeing the arraignment of 10 terrorism suspects said Wednesday that they had “planned to carry out a series of suicide attacks” last weekend on public transportation in Barcelona.

Spanish police move suspected terrorist detainees following last weekend’s arrests in Barcelona.

In a sequence of six-page rulings, one for each of the 10 suspects he ordered to be held in jail after their arraignments.

“Judge Ismael Moreno wrote that the suspects “had achieved human operational capacity and were very close to achieving full technical capacity with explosives, with the aim of using the those explosives for a jihadi terrorist attack, and it can be deduced that the members of the terrorist cell now broken up planned to carry out a series of suicide attacks last weekend, January 18 to 20, against public transport in the city of Barcelona.”

CNN has viewed a copy of one of the court orders.

The ruling said three suspected suicide bombers had traveled from Pakistan to Barcelona since October, with the most recent one arriving as late as mid-January.

The three had followed another Pakistani man — the alleged explosives expert — who had just arrived after a five-month stay in Pakistan.

“This pattern is common in Islamic extremist groups, which to carry out an attack usually send in the suicide bombers shortly before it will occur,” the judge wrote.

“The arrivals of these three occurred about two months after the presumed bomb maker had returned (to Barcelona).”

Further, Moreno wrote that an informant had told authorities about the suspected suicide bombers and the suspected explosives expert.

He added that police found nitrocellulose and mechanical and electrical elements that could be used to make one or more bombs.

Twelve men were arraigned Wednesday, but Moreno allowed two to go free. Those two — Pakistani nationals who had been arrested with the others — were released for lack of evidence, according to their court-appointed lawyer and a court source.

The 10 who were kept in custody include eight Pakistani nationals and two Indian nationals who are Muslim.

At least two of the 10 were prepared to be suicide bombers, prosecutor Vicente Gonzalez alleged during the arraignment, according to a government spokeswoman. The other eight were charged with fabrication and possession of explosives, she added.

The arraignments took place before Moreno at the National Court in Madrid, which handles terrorism cases.

The suspects were arrested last weekend in Barcelona and taken to Civil Guard headquarters in Madrid, where they were questioned. Authorities announced the arrests on Saturday.

Spanish and other European intelligence agencies told Spanish police that the suspects were acquiring bomb-making materials. These included four timers to activate bombs, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Saturday.

“They had taken a step beyond radicalization and were trying to get the means to make explosives,” Rubalcaba said.

The Interior Minister said authorities searched five homes in Barcelona and seized the four timers along with computer information.

The ministry on Saturday released photographs — which it said police shot immediately after the searches — showing what appeared to be timers, batteries, cables and ball bearings.

Spain’s largest-circulation daily, El Pais, reported that traces of an explosive sometimes used by Islamic terrorists were also found during the searches.

Spanish news media reported that authorities became alarmed recently when a known Pakistani militant arrived in Barcelona.

More than 250 suspected Islamic extremists have been arrested in Spain since the Madrid train bombings killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 on March 11, 2004, the Interior Ministry has told CNN.

Last October, more than a dozen Islamic extremists were convicted in Madrid for their roles in the train bombings.

But many of the suspected Islamic radicals arrested in Spain since the train bombings were accused only of financing or recruitment for Islamic terrorist activities.

Spain remains on “permanent alert” against Islamic terrorism. Al Qaeda communiques regularly make specific references to Spain

The arrest of these Terrorist was due in part to an informant, however had that informant not tipped authorities, these guys would not have been found until after they completed their mission. They were all arrested in the Raval section or Barcelona, a predominately Muslim/Arabic area, where they could oviously blend in. I wonder how many others in the community knew what these scumbags were planning and did not say anything to authorities? How many in this community aided these Jihadists in hopes that they would accomplish their goal.

Arrests made in Islamic community
Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said that during the raids, police also seized materials that could be used to make bombs.

The suspects were arrested in Barcelona’s Raval neighborhood, home to many Arabic-speaking and Muslim immigrants.

Europe’s worst Islamic-linked terror attack took place in Madrid on March 11, 2004, when bombs went off in four trains, killing 191 people. Last year, 21 suspects were convicted of terrorism and other charges in the bombings.

Jihadist In Spain Arrested

Spanish authorities arrest fourteen Jihadists planing terror attack in Barcelona. Spain remains on a high security alert as authorities search for other suspects.

MADRID, Spain  —  Fourteen suspected Islamic militants arrested in Spain on Saturday may have been planning a terrorist action in Barcelona, the interior minister said.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said more arrests were expected and the country was on high security alert.

The arrests in Barcelona were prompted by information from several unspecified European intelligence agencies, and there was evidence the suspects — 12 Pakistani nationals and two people from India — could have been planning “a terrorist action” in the northern city, he told a news conference.

Rubalcaba said police found four timers.

“When someone has timers at home you have no option but to think violent acts are being planned,” he said.

Civil Guard officers made the arrests as part of raids planned with the National Intelligence Center, the Spanish equivalent of the CIA, Rubalcaba said. Five homes were searched overnight he said.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero confirmed the arrests and said investigations were continuing.

Europe’s worst Islamic-linked terror attack took place in Spain on March 11, 2004, when bombs went off in railway carriages during the morning rush hour near Madrid’s Atocha station. The attack killed 191 people injured more than 1,800. Twenty-one people have been convicted of involvement in that attack. /**/

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, Spanish police have arrested hundreds of Islamic terrorism suspects, many in connection with the Madrid attack.

In recent years police have also focused on cells suspected of recruiting mujahedeen fighters and suicide bombers, or of collecting money to finance Al-Qaida-linked groups abroad.

The Madrid train attacks were claimed by Muslim militants who said they had acted on behalf of al-Qaida to avenge the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq, but Spain’s courts found no evidence al-Qaida ordered or financed the attacks.

Staggering Statistics on Muslims Killing Muslims

ACT has posted a set of statistics that demonstrates the real violence against Muslims, it is not Jews, Christians or even America that is leading the pack in Muslim Genocide, but rather other Muslims. These numbers (almost 10 million killed by other Muslims) defy rationality and surely anyone with half a brain can see where the real problem lies. Islam may or may not be a peaceful religion, but the people who dominate the religion and are the face that the world sees as representation of the religion, surely are far from peaceful.

“some 11,000,000 Muslims have been violently killed since 1948, of which 35,000, or 0.3 percent, died during the sixty years of fighting Israel, or just 1 out of every 315 Muslim fatalities. In contrast, over 90 percent of the 11 million who perished were killed by fellow Muslims.”

By Gunnar Heinsohn and Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine, October 8, 2007

The Arab-Israeli conflict is often said, not just by extremists, to be the world’s most dangerous conflict – and, accordingly, Israel is judged the world’s most belligerent country.

For example, British prime minister Tony Blair told the U.S. Congress in July 2003 that “Terrorism will not be defeated without peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine. Here it is that the poison is incubated. Here it is that the extremist is able to confuse in the mind of a frighteningly large number of people the case for a Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel.”

This viewpoint leads many Europeans, among others, to see Israel as the most menacing country on earth.

But is this true? It flies in the face of the well-known pattern that liberal democracies do not aggress; plus, it assumes, wrongly, that the Arab-Israeli conflict is among the most costly in terms of lives lost.

To place the Arab-Israeli fatalities in their proper context, one of the two co-authors, Gunnar Heinsohn, has compiled statistics to rank conflicts since 1950 by the number of human deaths incurred. Note how far down the list is the entry in bold type.

Conflicts since 1950 with over 10,000 Fatalities*

1 40,000,000 Red China, 1949-76 (outright killing, manmade famine, Gulag)

2 10,000,000 Soviet Bloc: late Stalinism, 1950-53; post-Stalinism, to 1987 (mostly Gulag)

3 4,000,000 Ethiopia, 1962-92: Communists, artificial hunger, genocides

4 3,800,000 Zaire (Congo-Kinshasa): 1967-68; 1977-78; 1992-95; 1998-present

5 2,800,000 Korean war, 1950-53

6 1,900,000 Sudan, 1955-72; 1983-2006 (civil wars, genocides)

7 1,870,000 Cambodia: Khmer Rouge 1975-79; civil war 1978-91

8 1,800,000 Vietnam War, 1954-75

9 1,800,000 Afghanistan: Soviet and internecine killings, Taliban 1980-2001

10 1,250,000 West Pakistan massacres in East Pakistan (Bangladesh 1971)

11 1,100,000 Nigeria, 1966-79 (Biafra); 1993-present

12 1,100,000 Mozambique, 1964-70 (30,000) + after retreat of Portugal 1976-92

13 1,000,000 Iran-Iraq-War, 1980-88

14 900,000 Rwanda genocide, 1994

15 875,000 Algeria: against France 1954-62 (675,000); between Islamists and the government 1991-2006 (200,000)

16 850,000 Uganda, 1971-79; 1981-85; 1994-present

17 650,000 Indonesia: Marxists 1965-66 (450,000); East Timor, Papua, Aceh etc, 1969-present (200,000)

18 580,000 Angola: war against Portugal 1961-72 (80,000); after Portugal’s retreat (1972-2002)

19 500,000 Brazil against its Indians, up to 1999

20 430,000 Vietnam, after the war ended in 1975 (own people; boat refugees)

21 400,000 Indochina: against France, 1945-54

22 400,000 Burundi, 1959-present (Tutsi/Hutu)

23 400,000 Somalia, 1991-present

24 400,000 North Korea up to 2006 (own people)

25 300,000 Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, 1980s-1990s

26 300,000 Iraq, 1970-2003 (Saddam against minorities)

27 240,000 Columbia, 1946-58; 1964-present

28 200,000 Yugoslavia, Tito regime, 1944-80

29 200,000 Guatemala, 1960-96

30 190,000 Laos, 1975-90

31 175,000 Serbia against Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, 1991-1999

32 150,000 Romania, 1949-99 (own people)

33 150,000 Liberia, 1989-97

34 140,000 Russia against Chechnya, 1994-present

35 150,000 Lebanon civil war, 1975-90

36 140,000 Kuwait War, 1990-91

37 130,000 Philippines: 1946-54 (10,000); 1972-present (120,000)

38 130,000 Burma/Myanmar, 1948-present

39 100,000 North Yemen, 1962-70

40 100,000 Sierra Leone, 1991-present

41 100,000 Albania, 1945-91 (own people)

42 80,000 Iran, 1978-79 (revolution)

43 75,000 Iraq, 2003-present (domestic)

44 75,000 El Salvador, 1975-92

45 70,000 Eritrea against Ethiopia, 1998-2000

46 68,000 Sri Lanka, 1997-present

47 60,000 Zimbabwe, 1966-79; 1980-present

48 60,000 Nicaragua, 1972-91 (Marxists/natives etc,)

49 51,000 Arab-Israeli conflict 1950-present

50 50,000 North Vietnam, 1954-75 (own people)

51 50,000 Tajikistan, 1992-96 (secularists against Islamists)

52 50,000 Equatorial Guinea, 1969-79

53 50,000 Peru, 1980-2000

54 50,000 Guinea, 1958-84

55 40,000 Chad, 1982-90

56 30,000 Bulgaria, 1948-89 (own people)

57 30,000 Rhodesia, 1972-79

58 30,000 Argentina, 1976-83 (own people)

59 27,000 Hungary, 1948-89 (own people)

60 26,000 Kashmir independence, 1989-present

61 25,000 Jordan government vs. Palestinians, 1970-71 (Black September)

62 22,000 Poland, 1948-89 (own people)

63 20,000 Syria, 1982 (against Islamists in Hama)

64 20,000 Chinese-Vietnamese war, 1979

65 19,000 Morocco: war against France, 1953-56 (3,000) and in Western Sahara, 1975-present (16,000)

66 18,000 Congo Republic, 1997-99

67 10,000 South Yemen, 1986 (civil war)

*All figures rounded. Sources: Brzezinski, Z., Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the Twenty-first Century, 1993; Courtois, S., Le Livre Noir du Communism, 1997; Heinsohn, G., Lexikon der Völkermorde, 1999, 2nd ed.; Heinsohn, G., Söhne und Weltmacht, 2006, 8th ed.; Rummel. R., Death by Government, 1994; Small, M. and Singer, J.D., Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars 1816-1980, 1982; White, M., “Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century,” 2003.

This grisly inventory finds the total number of deaths in conflicts since 1950 numbering about 85,000,000. Of that sum, the deaths in the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1950 include 32,000 deaths due to Arab state attacks and 19,000 due to Palestinian attacks, or 51,000 in all. Arabs make up roughly 35,000 of these dead and Jewish Israelis make up 16,000.

These figures mean that deaths Arab-Israeli fighting since 1950 amount to just 0.06 percent of the total number of deaths in all conflicts in that period. More graphically, only 1 out of about 1,700 persons killed in conflicts since 1950 has died due to Arab-Israeli fighting.

(Adding the 11,000 killed in the Israeli war of independence, 1947-49, made up of 5,000 Arabs and 6,000 Israeli Jews, does not significantly alter these figures.)

In a different perspective, some 11,000,000 Muslims have been violently killed since 1948, of which 35,000, or 0.3 percent, died during the sixty years of fighting Israel, or just 1 out of every 315 Muslim fatalities. In contrast, over 90 percent of the 11 million who perished were killed by fellow Muslims.

Comments: (1) Despite the relative non-lethality of the Arab-Israeli conflict, its renown, notoriety, complexity, and diplomatic centrality will probably give it continued out-sized importance in the global imagination. And Israel’s reputation will continue to pay the price. (2) Still, it helps to point out the 1-in-1,700 statistic as a corrective, in the hope that one day, this reality will register, permitting the Arab-Israeli conflict to subside to its rightful, lesser place in world politics.

Professor Heinsohn is director of the Raphael-Lemkin-Institut für Xenophobie- und Genozidforschung at the University of Bremen. Mr. Pipes (www.DanielPipes.org) is director of the Middle East Forum.

Mass Terror Attack in India

Two bombs exploded in the auditorium of an eatery during a laser show, killing 42 people and injuring another 50. Since the explosion on Saturday, another dozen plus bombs have been discovered and disarmed throught the city of Hyderbad.

This was a well planned attack with the intention of driving fear and death to this citizens of this city. Officials suspect terrorist organization Harkat-ul Jehad-i-Islami (HUJI) for the attack, who is believed to be involved in the bombing of the Mecca Mosque earlier this year.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy blamed terrorist organizations based in Bangladesh and Pakistan for the attacks which the police said were well-planned and coordinated. The chief minister also announced compensation of 500,000 rupees (about 12,000 dollars) for the next of kin of the victims and 25,000 rupees (about 607 dollars) and free hospital treatment for each of the injured. He also promised a government job to each family that had lost its breadwinner.

Reddy, speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, said no arrests had been made so far in connection with the blasts. At least two dozen people had been detained for questioning, NDTV news channel reported.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh said the dead included seven engineering students from neighbouring Maharashtra state who had come to Hyderabad on a study tour with a group of about 30 and were watching the laser show at the Lumbini Park when the blast took place.

The police had found and defused at least a dozen bombs over Saturday and Sunday fitted with timers and packed in plastic bags at bus stops, cinema theatres, pedestrian bridges and near public water taps, Singh said.

The federal government had dispatched extra security forces and special bomb detection squads and equipment to Hyderabad.

The explosive substances in the recovered bombs had been identified as Neogel-90, an ammonium nitrate-based emulsifier explosive, PTI news agency reported quoting a forensic expert.

One of the bombs was fitted with the explosive, metal balls and attached to a clock timer, he said.

The banned Harkat-ul Jehad-i-Islami (HUJI), an Islamic militant group, was suspected of masterminding the blasts, PTI news agency reported quoting police sources.

There were heart-rending scenes at the main mortuary in Hyderabad and the two hospitals where most of the injured were being treated, news reports said.

Some frantic relatives could be seen at the hospitals searching for missing relatives.

The dead included several young people like 17-year-old Pratyusha who was shopping at the Kothi market when the blast took place at the adjoining Gokul Chat Bhandar eatery.

A family of four – businessman Mohammed Saleem, his wife and two boys aged 9 and 6 – were among those killed at the eatery.

Thirty-two people were killed in the eatery and another 10 at Lumbini Park auditorium, the police said.

Hyderabad, with a large Muslim minority population, has a history of sectarian violence between Hindus and Muslims, and the authorities have stepped up security.

The situation in the city remained tense but peaceful, IANS news agency reported. Special security measures have been made for over 30,000 weddings scheduled to take place on Sunday, an auspicious day on the local calendar.

Security had been tightened at malls, railway and bus stations and all public places, the police said.

Hyderabad is also a major centre for information technology firms in India and several foreign firms have their offices in the city.

The twin blasts are the second major terrorist attack in Hyderabad in 2007. Eleven people were killed in explosions at the Mecca mosque in the city in May while five more died as angry mobs clashed with the police after the blasts.

The HUJI, led by Mohammed Abdul Shahid alias Bilal, was also believed to be responsible for the blasts at the Mecca mosque.

A red alert had been sounded across Andhra Pradesh and security tightened at all key installations and religious places in neighbouring Maharashtra and Karnataka states.

A series of bomb explosions triggered by terrorists in Maharashtra capital Mumbai in July 2006 left 184 dead and more than 700 injured. In September the same year, 32 people died in explosions near a mosque in Malegaon town in Maharashtra.

In February 2007, blasts on a train from India to neighbouring Pakistan left 65 dead.