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: and disruption.

Urban terrorism that is gradually gaining ground in Indian cities is driven mainly by religious fundamentalists operating from across India’s borders, often with the support of sections of the government machinery. The most active foreign terrorist organisations are the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayebba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI). All three organisations are affiliated with Osama bin Laden’s International Islamic Front whose ultimate aim is to establish an Islamic Caliphate with India as an integral part of it. Of late, these terrorist organisations have been known to receive local support from the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which wishes to liberate India from the materialistic cultural influence of the West and to create an Islamic society.

The aim of the terrorist organisations planning strikes in Indian cities is to create an environment of panic leading to a majority community backlash against the minority so that India’s secular credentials are undermined. They also seek to force the government machinery to react with repression and violence. The tools of terror are car and scooter bombs, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) placed in trains and buses and, occasionally, suicide bombings. Assassination attempts and kidnappings are bound to follow. Heavily armed gunmen launched terror attacks in Mumbai last month for the first time. The tactics, techniques and procedures adopted by them clearly indicate that they had been given commando training either by the Special Services Group (SSG), the elite Special Forces of the Pakistan army, or by retired Pakistani mercenary commandos who have joined the LeT.

As the Mumbai experience has shown, well-armed terrorists are not easy to fight in urban terrain as tall buildings and narrow lanes and alleys provide inherent protection to them and make the security forces easy targets. The presence of hostages further complicates military or police operations. Similarly, IED attacks and suicide bombings are extremely difficult to detect or prevent in time. The key to success in fighting urban terrorism lies in obtaining accurate intelligence about impending attacks and the neutralisation of the terrorists before they can launch their planned attacks. While electronic surveillance, including the interception of communications, is no doubt useful, it is of critical important to penetrate the networks and sleeper cells of the terrorist organisations so as to gain what has come to be called actionable intelligence.