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Technology Plays Key Role in Mumbai Attacks, Both for Terrorists and Civilians

Explore the U.S. military's fears about Twitter as a tool for terrorists, enhancing attacks through technology and real-time updates.

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It looks like the U.S. military's fears about Twitter being a tool for terrorists may not be so far off base. The Washington Post

reports that the attackers who wreaked havoc in Mumbai last week used Blackberries, GPS navigators, CDs full of high-res satellite images, and "multiple cellphones with switchable SIM cards that would be hard to track" to carry out their siege. They also spoke to each other using satellite phones and kept tabs on their fellow terrorists by watching live TV reports in the hotel rooms they occupied.

The use of technology was so sophisticated and extensive that one security expert in New Delhi told the Post,

"The terrorists would not have been able to carry out these attacks had it not been for technology. They were not sailors, but they were able to use sophisticated GPS navigation tools and detailed maps to sail from Karachi [in Pakistan] ...

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