The BBC and the Telegraph have good summaries of what is known so far.

This afternoon, the World Desk spoke with Bruce Hoffman, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University who has studied terrorism and insurgencies for more than three decades. He was formerly a scholar-in-residence at the Central Intelligence Agency, advised the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and has recently returned from Pakistan. I have written briefly about Hoffman in a previous post. I consider him an insightful source.

While cautioning that it’s still too early to draw firm conclusions about the identity of the attackers, Hoffman says the sophistication of the attacks, which required high levels of training, manpower, and logistical coordination, points to “outside planning.” The terrorists assaulted several targets simultaneously; they took and kept hostages; and they carried enough weapons and ammunition to fight for several days. Pulling this off would have required planning and practice.

“It’s not like planting a bomb,” he said. “You don’t plan operations like this in some safe house.”

Hoffman confirmed that links between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency and local Islamist terror groups are “very close,” but noted that this doesn’t mean the ISI played a role, or even knew about, the Mumbai attacks. “It could mean that far down the road in the past, these groups got the training they needed from the ISI,” he said.

The Pakistani government, through the ISI spy agency, was behind the creation of several of South Asia’s most violent Islamist militant groups, including the Taliban in Afghanistan and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Kashmir. But the Pakistani government doesn’t necessarily control the ISI, and the ISI doesn’t necessarily control its guerilla offspring. There’s a lesson here about not sowing the wind, but it’s a little late for Pakistan to learn it now. The entire country is at risk of being torn apart by the same brand of Islamist terror that was almost certainly behind the atrocities in Mumbai.

Bruce Hoffman says he believes Pakistan’s new president, Asif Ali Zardari, is sincere in his belief to advance peace between India and Pakistan and cooperate against the Islamist militants who threaten both countries. Terrorists assassinated Zardari’s wife, Benazir Bhutto, so his motivations might be personal. He may also be enough of a realist to recognize he doesn’t have much choice.

The Scene. No recession. No deficit. No need to worry. Just support the troops and buy more stock. In the midst of an election campaign, it was easy. Win the news cycle, win the day, win the week, just get to the end.

Then October 15 came.

The recession set in. A deficit became unavoidable. Job losses piled up. The stock market fell hundreds of points more. The extent of our losses in Afghanistan became clearer. And after a few days of relative calm, this government’s critics in the House of Commons began to howl.

Unable to manage such realities, Stephen Harper’s government has apparently now decided the best thing to do—perhaps the only thing it can do—is bankrupt its opposition.

“The greatest histories,” Jim Flaherty mused about a half hour into explaining the state of the national economy, “are written in the toughest times.”

Shortly thereafter, he was finished. And shortly after his final words, he and the Prime Minister took their leave, long gone by the time Scott Brison, Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton and Thomas Mulcair got round to blistering the Commons paint with indictments of the story just told. Continue…

The Times of India, without naming sources, claims it is “suspected” that the Pakistan Marine Agency helped terrorists hijack a fishing trawler which was then used to transport the attackers from Karachi, Pakistan, to the Indian coast. 

The Indian major-general leading operations against the militants in Mumbai has also said they came from Pakistan.

The Pakistani president and prime minister have meanwhile offered condolences to their counterparts in India.

There are several disturbing implications if al Qaeda is found to have behind the Mumbai attack. First, and most obviously, it would demonstrate that the terror group, which has suffered setbacks of late, remains capable of coordinating sophisticated and simultaneous assaults on a wide variety of targets.

Secondly, and perhaps more seriously, it would suggest an al-Qaeda foothold in India. India had been considered largely free of al-Qaeda, despite a Muslim population of more than 150 million. No Indians were captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002, for example, nor have there been any Indian inmates at Guantanamo Bay. But the country has been in al-Qaeda’s crosshairs for at least three years. In April of 2006, Osama bin Laden for the first time referred to a “Crusader-Zionist-Hindu conspiracy against the Muslims.” Around the same time, Indian intelligence agencies began reporting an al-Qaeda presence in Kashmir. An al-Qaeda hand in Mumbai would suggest that the international terrorist group has opened up a new front. Continue…

Check in with Michael Petrou at The World Desk. Updates from international news sources here.

…our Michael Petrou is blogging every development in a fast-moving day here. Philippe Gohier has links to news updates from other news organizations here. Both Mike and Philippe will be updating frequently.

Two Canadians, actor Michael Rudder and yoga teacher Helen Connolly, are among the wounded in Mumbai.

The South Asia Terrorism Portal, as well as the United States National Counterterrorism Center, provide some useful context for the Mumbai attacks by reminding us how frequently, and with what horrific results, India has been hit. In 2007, according to the National Counterterrorism Center, India ranked behind only Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan for deaths caused by terrorist attacks.

Canadian Press today reported that six Canadians are among the hostages held by terrorists in Mumbai.

Lawrence Cannon, minister of foreign affairs, released the following statement:

I am now able to confirm that a number of Canadians are staying in hotels targeted by the attackers. However, our information does not confirm whether any Canadians are among the injured or killed, or among the hostages.

All consulate staff have been accounted for, and are actively seeking to locate and assist Canadians in Mumbai.

Continue…