Paris Attacks: The eerie similarity between Mumbai 26/11 and Paris 13/11

As terror struck Paris with shootings and bombings in two restaurants, Stade de France soccer stadium and concert hall at Bataclan, leaving over 150 people dead and many injured, one could not help but be reminded of similarly horrifying Black Friday in India’s history, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Experts sy the Paris Attacks last night were almost a copy cat version on the terrifying attacks o Mumba where attacks were carried out simultaneously at hospitals, railway stations and cafes, killing hundreds.

John Miller, Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counter-terrorism of the New York Police Department told CNN in an interview, that the Paris attack resembles the Mumbai terrorist attack in terms of low-cost low resources and carried the various features of 26/11.

Bruce Hoffman, head of the national security programme at Georgetown University, in an interview to the popular National Public Radio referred to a call given by al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, five years ago to carry Mumbai-type attacks across Europe.

"The attacks show a level of sophistication we really haven't seen in an urban area since 2008 in the attack in Mumbai," Michael Leiter, former director National Counterterrorism Center, told NBC News.

The eerie similarities

Both Paris and Mumbai were targets of terror attacks in the month of November.

Multiple teams coordinated and simultaneously attacked different places.

Hotels,stadium and cafes were targeted.

Both the attacks took place at night.

AK-47 was the weapon of choice in both cases.

Trained gunmen fired randomly at the crowd, like the Mumbai attacks

Eyewitnesses say the attackers were young and not wearing masks, like that in Mumbai terror attacks.

Most importantly these were suicide attacks. Both in Mumbai and Paris, the attackers were prepared to kill and devastate to the maximum capability possible given they were on suicide missions.

(Image credits: Indiatimes)