Background of the incident The 2008 Mumbai attacks were marked by twelve coordinated terrorist bombing and shooting attacks that lasted four days in the Indian city of Mumbai. The attacks were carried out by members of a group called Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) (Perumal, 2013). The only surviving attacker, Ajmal Kasab, confessed during interrogation that the attacks were orchestrated by the head of Pakistan's ISI. The attack left 168 people dead, most of them Israelis and Americans. Another 308 people were injured in the attacks. According to Perumal (2013), LeT succeeded in the attack because it selected 10 militants who were then trained to carry out the attacks. The literature further reveals that David Headley was employed by the masterminds of the attack to gather information on the targets. During the planning stages, David reportedly visited Mumbai five times between 2006 and 2008 (Santanam & Sethumadhavan, 2011). The planning was top-notch, allowing the attacks to last from November 26 to 29, 2008. Most of the planning was undertaken by LeT militants inside Pakistan. During the attacks, reports indicate that all directions were obtained from inside Pakistan through VoIP and mobile phones (Perlez & Masood, 2009; Santanam & Sethumadhavan, 2011). Objective and Execution of Terrorist Attacks Acts of terror are often accompanied by violence aimed at creating shock in the minds of the victims. The Mumbai attack was no different as LeT militants aimed to send a clear message to the targeted Indians, Israelis and Americans seen as oppressing Muslims (Ghosh, 2013). The ulterior motive was to give a blow to India's national morale and deal a blow to its security. All attacks and...... middle of paper ...... emergency response should be to provide rapid and effective assistance at the scene of the incident. As such, immediate responders should exchange information about the incident and only relay information that has been verified and adapted to the public domain. The creation of a crisis command center is essential to achieve effective coordination and communication (Santanam & Sethumadhavan, 2011). There should always be a good system of communication and coordination between state security agents, NSG, ATS and army special operations in order to procure the hideouts of terrorists and rescue the hostages taken by the attackers. In a bid to make public places safer like the Taj Hotel, India has stepped up the use of security technologies such as gun control programs, entry control systems and electronic surveillance cameras (Hess et al.., 2013).