Who is the surviving Mumbai terrorist?
Pop quiz: What’s the name of the lone surviving attacker from Mumbai? It’s a bit of a trick question. Reports in the Indian press and elsewhere have ascribed various names to the terrorist captured along the Mumbai waterfront, who seems to be the same fellow captured in this chilling photo: Here’s my count of the ...
Pop quiz: What's the name of the lone surviving attacker from Mumbai?
Pop quiz: What’s the name of the lone surviving attacker from Mumbai?
It’s a bit of a trick question. Reports in the Indian press and elsewhere have ascribed various names to the terrorist captured along the Mumbai waterfront, who seems to be the same fellow captured in this chilling photo:
Here’s my count of the names in use:
- Ajmal Mohammed Amir Kasab
- Amjad Amir Kamaal
- Ajmal Amir Kamal
-
- Ajmal Qasab
- Ajmal Amin Kamal
- Ajmal Amir Kasab
- Mohammad Ajmal Qasam
- Azam Amir Kasav
- Mohammed Ajmal Mohammed Amir Kasav
Some of these are just differences in transliteration (Kasab vs. Qasab, for instance), but the rest would seem to be the product of a sloppy media culture and bad press management by Indian officials.
All the reports I’ve found, however, agree that he is from Faridkot, Pakistan, he is 21 years old, he admitted being a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, and he has only a fourth-grade education.
Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
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