Mumbai city is in trouble, once again, on account of terror attacks. What began as a reported "gang war" in south Mumbai mushroomed into nothing short of a war zone in the space of a few hours today. Government and law enforcement were yet again reduced to dancing to the tune of terror as the suspected terrorists used their most deadly weapon; no not their AK-47s or hand-grenades, but the element of surprise. The affected areas are indicated on the map below:

Larger Map

As I see it, there are a number of possible reasons why this terror attack is surprising and yet, on some level, we should have expected it to happen:

• The war in Iraq and Afghanistan (yes, nothing new here, I know), the fact that the USA and India are increasingly cozying up to one other, Obama's decidedly pro-India /anti-Pakistan stance
• Kashmir went to the polls and the polls in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi were scheduled to be held less than a week from today
• Mumbai had, as yet, remained unscathed by terror attacks while other cities, both big and small, bore the brunt of terror attacks in recent months
• India's rise on the global stage a world economic heavyweight in light of the recent economic meltdown of traditional world superpowers
• Successful resolution of the Nuclear Supplier's Group (NSG) plan to lift sanctions against India and allow nuclear co-operation with the USA, in a sense paving the way for even higher growth and prosperity

There may be a few more reasons, but the sum and substance was that the terrorists came for the foreigners living in plush 5-star hotels and innocent Mumbaikars suffered the consequences.

Today's events once again underscores India's failure to gather intelligence* about these terror groups and deal with the threat well ahead of time.  Perhaps we are dealing with a new breed of terrorist, one that plans the terror attack as seriously as an Army General would a war. The sad truth is that India has become a virtual playing ground for terrorists to try "new" and "innovative" approaches to spread terror. Where are the laws that will put an end to this nonsense once and for all?

If we as a nation don't address this problem soon, I'm sorry to say that we deserve what comes our way, because to take no action is to give tacit approval to the proceedings. The nation needs to come together like in the good old days if we are to pull this off this war on terror.

How many more will it take before it ends? Let the political "blame game" begin...

*Edit: Apparently Pune cops had a tip suggesting the Anti-terror squad leader would be assassinated in a bomb attack