A series of coordinated terrorist attacks took place in Mumbai, India, last month, claiming the lives of at least 172 people. Another 293 people have been reported injured. Eight of the attacks took place in South Mumbai, with the other two occurring at Vile Parle and in the Mumbai port area. According to an email sent to the press, a group identifying itself as Deccan Mujahideen is responsible for the attacks; however, a terrorist who was captured alive claims to be a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist group. Others place the blame on Indian domestic terrorism.Two weeks prior to the attacks, expert criminal profiler Dr. Deborah Schurman-Kauflin released her new book, Disturbed: Terrorist Behavioral Profiles, in which predicted India would be the next big terror target. According to a weekend interview with Dr. Schurman-Kauflin, the citizens of India remain in danger of further terrorist attacks.
"India is in really big trouble, and tensions have been rising for a long time," Dr. Schurman-Kauflin told Investigation Discovery. "Various disaffected groups have grown increasingly bold and vicious in their attacks. Terror groups have been continually springing up in India, but the government response has been lackluster. Some groups are Hindu; others are Muslim. And the fighting has been horrific. One group attacks, and then the other strikes back." According to Dr. Schurman-Kauflin, the terrorists have set their sights on the financial sector and entertainment districts "due to the value of targeting wealthy Westerners."
Many Muslims believe they are facing discrimination, and others are concerned with the increasing Hindu ties to the West.
"Radical Hindu groups have been extremely vicious and have worked to strengthen alliance with Israel," Dr. Schurman-Kauflin said. "The idea is that Israel has Washington's ear, and Israel does not look kindly upon any violent Muslim population.
To Hindu extremists, this would hopefully lead to Israel and the U.S. being sympathetic and, thus, helping them attain weapons and training. Add the fact that many Muslim radicals believe that Hindus are descendants of a Jewish tribe, and this stirs hatred.
Then, with the troubles of Kashmir, growing Western influence, and the lack of communication between enforcement agencies, there was no doubt India would be hit."
When Dr. Schurman-Kauflin examined terrorist behaviors, she noticed there was a steady and deadly increase in the types of violence that groups were using in India. She also noted that the existing infrastructure was unprepared to deal with it.
"There is no concerted effort to approach such threats, and sects are sternly set against cooperating lest they lose power," Dr. Schurman-Kauflin said. "Many in India are overly cautious about communicating worrisome information. There is a tendency to keep quiet and attempt to solve problems secretively and internally. This lack of communication makes tracking terror groups terribly difficult. In other words, one Intelligence agency would track an individual group, but then another Intelligence agency would watch a separate terror group. There would be little to no coordination."
Dr. Schurman-Kauflin believes the terrorists will continue to take hostages in order to attract international media attention and generate a greater sense of fear in the world."Hostage taking is the way of the future for terrorists," Dr. Schurman-Kauflin said. "The Russian Beslan school attack was so devastating that this is a model that terrorists are going to use. When they can draw out an attack for several days, the impact is greater."
In regard to future terrorist attacks, Dr. Schurman-Kauflin warns that India will not be the only target.
"India will see more of this, and countries such as the U.S. and Canada can look forward to such attacks as well," Dr. Schurman-Kauflin said. "Schools and hospitals are overly vulnerable. Victims are less able to fight back, and the psychological ramifications are unlimited. Though groups like al-Qaeda would be loathe to use such attacks due to obvious backlash, cells have no such inhibitions. They want the power and the impact, and with a psychopathic, deviant mentality, nothing is off the table."
[Dr. Deborah Schurman-Kauflin is an expert criminal profiler who has studied and investigated serial killers for over 20 years. At the request of police agencies around the world, Dr. Schurman-Kauflin has profiled hundreds of serial murders, aberrant sex crimes, sadistic murders, serial rapes, stalkings, abductions, and other unusual cases. Visit Dr. Deborah Schurman-Kauflin's Web site at: www.drdsk.com]
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