Learning from Mumbai

Urban Warfare Project

On November 26, 2008, ten Pakistan-based terrorists simultaneously attacked and sieged multiple sites across the megacity of Mumbai, India. The world watched in horror as the attacks terrified the city for almost three days. Often referred to as India’s 9/11, the attacks were planned and orchestrated seemingly with the precision of a military special forces unit. In this episode, host John Spencer presents a short lecture on the attacks, describing some of the features of the megacity of Mumbai and detail the planning and execution of the attacks, before highlighting the urban warfare lessons that can be extracted from the event. The lecture was recorded during a presentation to the NATO Science and Technology Office's "Basics of Complex Modern Urban Functions and Characteristics" course.