New book offers comprehensive reconstruction of 26 11 Mumbai terror attacks on 17th anniversary

New Delhi, Nov 26 (PTI) A new book, "Perfect Storm: The History and Anatomy of 26/11", offers one of the most detailed and unsettling accounts of the Mumbai terror attacks, as the country marks the 17th anniversary of the tragedy.
    Written by former special director of the Intelligence Bureau Prabhakar Aloka and screenwriter Nikhil Ravi, the book uncovers the full scope of the conspiracy that culminated in the 26/11 attacks -- tracing its origins back to the Partition of 1947 and following its threads through decades of proxy warfare, jihadist evolution, and state-sponsored terror.
    It is published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI).
    "You cannot understand 26/11 without understanding Pakistan's strategic culture of asymmetric proxy warfare against India -- a framework that began with Partition's trauma and continues to evolve in dangerous ways. Understanding this history isn't merely academic.
    "The forces that produced Mumbai also produced this year's Pahalgam massacre. Until we grasp this continuum, we remain vulnerable to the next attack” said Aloka on why the book remains deeply relevant even 17 years after the attacks.
    From the ISI-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba training camps and telecommunications fraud cells in Manila to the intelligence agencies that missed crucial signals, the book "peels back the layers of a vast, interconnected plot that spans continents".
    "Unlike previous accounts that focus narrowly on the events at the Taj or on key figures like David Headley, Nikhil and Aloka delve into 26/11 within a larger geopolitical and historical continuum. The result is a sweeping yet grounded investigation that connects history, intelligence, and ideology to the modern realities of terrorism," the publishers said.
    The book also uses declassified material, open-source intelligence and Aloka’s experience tracking Lashkar-e-Taiba’s network to illustrate how bits of information held by various agencies did not come together in time.
    As many as 166 people lost their lives and over 300 were injured after 10 terrorists from Pakistan launched simultaneous attacks in several parts of Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
    "Perfect Storm", priced at Rs 599, is available for purchase across online and offline stores.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)