Al-Qaida hallmarks in Mumbai attacks?

Al-Qaida hallmarks in Mumbai attacks?
Associated Press
Thursday, November 27, 2008, (London)

Britain's spy agencies had little warning of the terrorist attack in Mumbai, which bore some Al-Qaida hallmarks but appears unlikely to be linked to the group's core leadership, officials said on Thursday.Westerners in India's financial centre were targeted in the spectacular attack comprised of multiple, simultaneous assaults a signature of past Al-Qaida actions including the September 11 attacks.But the Indian attack was carried out by gunmen and not the suicide bombers frequently employed by Al-Qaida and its affiliates.The group who claimed responsibility Deccan Mujahideen was unknown to security officials, a British security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the work. He said terror threats in India had been increasing but the scale of the attack yesterday was a surprise and there were no indications attacks would target Westerners."We have been actively monitoring plots in Britain and abroad and there was nothing to indicate something like this was about to happen," the official said.Britain closely monitors terrorist suspects in south Asia. The majority of the nearly 2 million British Muslims are of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin. More than 2,000 terror suspects are being monitored in the UK alone, with dozens more being watched in other countries, Britain's security services have said."It's too early to say definitively at this stage, but based on what we've seen so far this doesn't look like a core Al-Qaida attack," another British security official said on condition of anonymity. "It certainly looks to have been inspired by Islamic extremist ideology."