CNN Touts "Mumbai Massacre", "Mumbai Under Seige", "Terror in India"

(UPDATE below)

This one looks like real trouble, politically speaking, in a way that wasn't true for the many other major terror attacks that India has suffered in recent years. Look for a roll-out of the War on Terror, version 2.0-- possibly culminating in some really nasty earth-shattering events.

The attack on the Jewish center, and foreign national victims, plays into this, of course-- particularly the former. (And now 5 Jews being reported dead, including a rabbi.)

None of this overlooks that the attacks were horrible, brutal and barbaric events, and deserve condemnation from all. The question still is who was behind it all. The fact that two top counter-terrorism officers were killed early on is a sign that there may have been some official involvement.

Not surprisingly, earlier this summer, from Sec. Def. Gates: "even winning the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will not end the "Long War" against violent extremism and that the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorists should be the nation's top military priority over coming decades, according to a new National Defense Strategy he approved last month."

UPDATE: If true, very grim news of Pakistani and Bangladeshi (formerly East Pakistan) involvement:

India's NDTV is now reporting new details, based on Indian intelligence sources, of the Mumbai attack, including the total number of attackers, their origins, etc. We'll have video shortly. Key details seemed to be that there were 40 attackers, half were there in place and in advance and half were brought in on speed boats from the sea. 29 were Pakistani, 11 were Bangladeshi.

I should emphasize here that while reports sourced to off-the-record statements from intelligence agencies should always be treated with caution, that is particularly the case here. The Indians come at these terrorist incidents with strong (and not at all unfounded) assumptions about Pakistani involvement. That may very well be the case. But we should wait for firmer evidence before taking these reports as the final word.

Important caveat there at the end, though really, any reports from intelligence agencies should be treated with caution.

Is there any precedent for this type of small armed invasion by an outside terrorist group on a suicide mission? There may be some precedent , but I can't think of anything like this off the top of my head. It's quite bizarre.

An interesting editorial in the WaPo on the Indian internal "war on terror" and ways it is reminiscent of recent US and Israeli history.