So the attacks are over, 56 hours later. Latest count is 183 dead, and more than 300 injured, but according to Indian officials, it was stopped before the worst could happen – they had apparently planned to kill thousands of people by bombing the Taj building. Averting that, at least, is a small bright spot in this chaos. Five hostages were killed at the Chabad House, one of the first places targeted, a fact scarcely covered by western news media – perhaps because the hostages were Jewish and Israeli.
The captured terrorist is Pakistani and has suspected ties to the Pakistani ISI, which has caused no small amount of tension to flare up in an already-tense region. Though Pakistan has denied involvement and sworn to help, and has sent its chief spymaster to aid in the investigation, it has also indicated it will move 100,000 military personnel to the border if “tensions continue to rise.” If that does happen, this could end up being the tipping point of a much larger, and scarier, conflict. Let’s hope it doesn’t get that far.
Bill Roggio has an excellent, more in-depth analysis of the execution and ramifications of the attack.
h/t to Ace for several of these links.