While attempting to examine the occurrence and impact of terrorism in cities, it is essential to define what one perceives as terrorism. Beginning by defining it in terms of acts of terror, they may be taken as acts of violence employed either without objective, directed at civilians, or for political motives. What is important in this definition, is that though we may not lay the blame of a terrorist action at a state, we do allow for the occurrence of such an incident, for though terrorist acts perpetrated by individuals and groups, as opposed to a state, might have different elements, but their effects on people and the polity are, to an extent, similar, and hence, should not be ignored.

In the 21st century, cities have become, more and more often, targets of terrorist activities. To an extent, this concentration on a geographical zone may be explained by the role that a given city plays in a state’s development and presence in the larger world community, as also the level of visibility it offers for terrorists. However, more often than not, the focus on a particular city as the target of the strike is not limited to the attributes of the city itself, but also to the larger idea it portends.

Terrorists activities are by no means outside of the ordinary in India,  terrorism entered new territory with the November attacks in Mumbai, and while the target was not new and tactics similar to those employed herein have become commonplace in Kashmir, the Mumbai attacks showed an unprecedented combination of detailed planning and organization, multiplicity of targets and indiscriminate killing on a large scale in a major city