Australia's Sunday Mail has
an article looking at how the Mumbai terrorists used Blackberry devices and mobile internet access to give them an edge during the siege last week. The terrorists were able to stay abreast of developments even though cable TV feeds were cut to the hotels and office block being attacked, apparently by using their phones.
One of the rucksacks carried by one of the terrorists, later recovered by commandos, contained a Mauritian national's identity card, Chinese-made grenades, seven ammunition magazines, 400 spare rounds of ammunition, seven credit cards from different banks, dry rations and thousands of dollars in cash. However amid the arsenal of military hardware, it was the use of humble mobile phones and internet technology that proved a key weapon – one which caught the anti-terrorist forces by surprise.
The use of BlackBerrys by the terrorists to monitor international reaction to the atrocities, and to check on the police response via the internet, provided further evidence of the highly organised and sophisticated nature of the attacks. The gunmen were able to trawl the internet for information after cable television feeds to the two luxury hotels and office block were cut by the authorities. The men looked beyond the instant updates of the Indian media to find worldwide reaction to the events in Mumbai, and to keep abreast of the movements of the soldiers sent to stop them.
