12 years of Mumbai attacks: A look at major terror attacks in India post 26/11

Exactly 12 years back, a series of terror attacks rocked India's financial capital Mumbai claiming the lives of 166 people including 18 security personnel, and leaving many more injured and a trail of destruction. 

On November 26, 2008, ten terrorists of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) entered Mumbai by sea route and opened fire indiscriminately at many places including Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi hotel, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman (Chabad) House, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station during the 60-hour siege.

Nine of the terrorists were eliminated and the lone survivor, Ajmal Kasab, was arrested and was executed on November 11, 2012, following a long court trial. 

Pakistan never acknowledged its role in the Mumbai attacks and continued to infiltrate terrorists into India and carry out terrorist attacks. Let's have a look at major terror attacks that took place after 26/11: 

2019 Pulwama terror attack

In its biggest-ever attack on Indian security forces, a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist ran an explosive-laden car into a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 last year. 44 CRPF troops lost their lives and several others were injured in the attack.

To avenge the death of CPRF troops, Indian Air Force (IAF) jets bombed the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camps in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan in the early hours of February 26. 

In August this year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a charge sheet naming JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar and others for "carrying out the attack at the behest of Pakistan".

Uri terror attack - 2016

In one of the most deadly attacks on the Indian Armed Forces, at least 18 soldiers were killed and 18 others were injured when armed terrorists ambushed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town early morning. Four terrorists were killed in the ensuing encounter.

Under tremendous pressure to teach Pakistan a "lesson" even by his own party men, the Narendra Modi government ordered a strike on terror bases in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK). In September 2016, the Indian Army's special forces conducted surgical strikes to destroy terror launchpads in PoK.

Pampore attack - 2016

In June 2016, at least eight CRPF personnel lost their lives and about two dozen were left injured when terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) opened fire at a CRPF convoy in Pampore on the high way on outskirts of Srinagar. Later on, at least three more soldiers succumbed to their injuries. Two terrorists were gunned down by the CRPF troops in the combat. 

Pathankot airbase attack -  2016

On January 2, 2016, six heavily armed terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), donning Army uniform, carried out a pre-dawn strike at AIF Air Force base in Punjab's Pathankot which is located 35 kilometres from the international border. 

Six soldiers were martyred in the attack. Lt Col Niranjan of National Security Guard's bomb disposal squad died while sanitising a terrorist's body during the attack. 

Gurdaspur terror attack - 2015 

On July 27, 2015, three heavily-armed terrorists wearing army fatigues opened fire on a bus and attacked a police station in Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district of Punjab, killing ten people, including a Superintendent of Police. The terrorists were gunned down during a daylong operation.

Over a dozen people were injured in the attack. 

Mumbai bombings - 2011

On July 13, 2011, three powerful explosions ripped through crowded areas of Mumbai at the height of the evening rush, killing at least 21 people and injuring over 140 people.