A group of young,well-trained and motivated men armed to the teeth with automatic rifles,grenades,grenade or rocket launchers,powerful bombs,backpacks filled with magazines of bullets,knives and dry fruit invade the urban landscape and unleash a wave of terror. They shoot indiscriminately,throw grenades at targets or explode bombs as they hit the ground running. They are extremely fit and agile enough to jump walls,scale buildings,and capable of taking hostages for days on end. If they can sneak away,afterwards,just as well. If not,death holds no fear. Mumbai,Kabul and now Lahore have in the last three months been witness to what seems to be a new guerrilla terror strategy being adapted by Islamist groups to attack urban centres,take security agencies by surprise and spill as much blood as possible at a time and place that invites maximum media attention. The Lahore attacks were eerily similar to the carnage in Mumbai last November. A group of 12 young men arrived on foot (or in a CNG-powered autorickshaw-style luggage carrier,according to some reports) and in classic military style ambushed the team bus near a traffic island circle. They fired at the tyres first and then the bus. They exploded two bombs and threw grenades. A firefight ensued as they were challenged by the players commando escorts. The attackers can be seen firing back calmly and running across a roadside lawn just like the 26/11 attackers,who hit Café Leopold in Colaba first and used a lane next door to reach the Taj Mahal Hotel even as they continued shooting at random. Many of the Lahore attackers were reportedly clean shaven,wore sneakers,trousers,jackets and shirts or T-shirts like their Mumbai counterparts. On February 11,eight Taliban fighters attacked two Afghan government ministries and a prisons department office in Kabul and killed 26 people in three simultaneous raids. While three of the attackers were shot dead before they could inflict much damage,the others forced their way into the buildings,firing indiscriminately,and sought to take hostages before being neutralised. Intelligence agencies said the attacks seemed inspired by 26 Although terror attacks in Afghanistan,Pakistan and India have a history of a few decades now,powerful bomb blasts have been the most preferred method,the high-profile exception being the December 2001 raid on the Parliament. In Kabul for instance,the Taliban and al-Qaeda have launched fewer attacks since the beginning of 2008 but those that have been carried out have been high profile and aimed to grab global media attention,security analysts say. Ditto for Mumbai or Lahore. Unlike the faceless serial bombs that kill and maim scores but are over within minutes,raids by gunmen at public targets,hostage situations and prolonged gunbattles with security forces have taken over.
