A series of devastating coordinated terror attacks in Mumbai, India, which killed over 170 people and wounded approximately 300, is the latest act of terrorism to specifically include Jews outside Israel among its targets.

At least ten armed militants attacked several locations frequented by tourists throughout Mumbai, including a railway station, a popular restaurant, a hospital, two hotels and a Jewish Center.

The attack, which lasted three days beginning on the evening of November 26, 2008, claimed the lives of at least 22 Westerners, including six Americans and four Israelis, and more than 100 Indians.

Gunmen killed six Jews – four Israelis, an American and a Mexican - at the Nariman House, the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-Orthodox Chabad Lubavitch movement. During the two-day standoff, the hostages were reportedly tortured by their captors before they were bound together and killed.  Three of the victims at the Nariman House managed to escape, including an Israeli man and a two-year-old boy with his nanny.

In addition to the Nariman House, the militants held hostages at the Oberoi-Trident hotel and the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. They also attacked the Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, the Cama and Albless Hospital, the Café Leopold and the State Bank of India. 

India has long suffered terror attacks. Mumbai has been attacked six times since 1993, including in 2006, when over 160 people were killed by attacks on the city's rail transit.

A previously unknown group calling itself Deccan Mujahideen sent an e-mail to news organizations claiming responsibility for the attacks, but officials are skeptical of this claim.  Some observers suggest the attacks may be linked to the Indian Mujahedeen, an Islamist terror group that claimed responsibility for a series of blasts in November 2007 in Uttar Pradesh and for attacks in the Indian cities of New Delhi, Jaipur and Ahmedabad in 2008. In September 2008, the group sent an e-mail saying that Mumbai was its next target.

Nine of the militants were killed and one, Azam Amir Kasab, was captured by Indian authorities. Kasab, a 21-year-old Pakistani national, reportedly said that he belongs to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistani-based Islamic terrorist organization with links to Al Qaeda. Kasab admitted that he and the other gunmen trained at LeT camps in Pakistan for about six months before carrying out the planned attacks. At the terrorist training camp, the men allegedly learned close-combat techniques, hostage-taking, handling explosives, satellite navigation and high-seas survival skills. 

Kasab also reportedly told Indian authorities that Israelis were specifically targeted to avenge atrocities on Palestinians, which is why they targeted the Nariman House.  Some of the gunmen allegedly previously stayed in the Nariman House on a rental basis, identifying themselves as Malaysian students. 

Pakistan has denied Indian investigators' claims that the Mumbai attackers underwent months of training at camps run by LeT, saying no such proof had been provided. LeT has also denied any involvement in the attacks.

Islamic terrorists have targeted Western tourists, killing hundreds of civilians at resorts, hotels and other tourist locations, for many years. Casualties have often been very high, including not only tourists, but the local population as well.

In addition to the human toll, terrorists prey on people's safety and security concerns, which keeps tourists away and significantly damages foreign investment in many developing countries. This economic damage is part of a larger terrorist agenda to destabilize governments, foment chaos and challenge the legitimacy of ruling regimes.