--- title: 2008 Mumbai Attacks: See TIME's Cover Story Seven Years Ago description: How the killing of more than 150 people made the city, and India, take a long hard look at itself canonical: https://time.com/4127725/mumbai-attacks-2008-2611-india-pakistan-time-cover/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-26T06:16:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:01.616Z article:section: History og:title: See TIME's Cover Story on the Mumbai Attacks of 2008 og:description: How the atrocities made the city, and India, take a long hard look at itself og:url: https://time.com/4127725/mumbai-attacks-2008-2611-india-pakistan-time-cover/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd592f717fc7aca8/698872d92dce0100cf9e6ac2/20081215_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 400 og:image:height: 225 og:image:alt: 20081215_400 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See TIME's Cover Story on the Mumbai Attacks of 2008 twitter:description: How the atrocities made the city, and India, take a long hard look at itself twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd592f717fc7aca8/698872d92dce0100cf9e6ac2/20081215_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Seven Years Later, a Look Back at TIME's Cover on the 2008 Mumbai Attacks > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=fc1d3e9e-6cc6-443e-bd81-5ce170d77e14&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=fc1d3e9e-6cc6-443e-bd81-5ce170d77e14&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Mumbai's Defiant Residents [Watch (HLS stream): Mumbai's Defiant Residents](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MSiBK5G0.m3u8) (3:20)  _Published 2008-12-02. At a candlelight vigil, Mumbai residents rally and demand change after their city was attacked_ by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Nov 26, 2015 6:16 AM UTC  "India's Pain," cover of TIME's Dec. 4, 2008 issue. "India's Pain," cover of TIME's Dec. 4, 2008 issue. TIME by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Nov 26, 2015 6:16 AM UTC Mumbai is no stranger to terrorism. The bustling, teeming metropolis on India’s western seaboard has faced nearly a dozen militant attacks since the early 1990s, most of them in the form of explosives placed on its overcrowded public transport systems. The South Asian nation’s financial capital has thus become known for its resilience, and the so-called “Mumbai spirit” that allows it to bounce back and move on from such atrocities. On this day in 2008, however, the gunning down of more than 150 people in a series of coordinated simultaneous attacks, by terrorists who entered from the Arabian Sea that frames Mumbai’s picturesque skyline, would make the city — and country — take a long, hard look at itself. As TIME wrote in a [cover story](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1864207,00.html) a week after the attacks entitled “India’s Pain”: --- > “” --- Most of the core social and political issues that the story goes on to describe, laid bare by the shock of the “26/11” attacks — India’s [tenuous relationship](http://time.com/4065782/ghulam-ali-mumbai-concert-canceled-shiv-sena/) with neighboring Pakistan, its [treatment](http://time.com/4060906/dadri-lynching-beef-bisara-mohammad-akhlaq/) of its own Muslim population and its [preparedness](http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/today-india-is-as-vulnerable-as-mumbai-was-on-26-11/story-pro9TL39zQUvb3WqHO0KWK.html) for future acts of violence — endure today. But even as Mumbai stops to remember, it continues to question. [_Read the full cover story from 2008 here in the TIME archives_](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1864207-1,00.html) ## Transcript >> We're not protesting or we're not rebelling or anything like that. Just raising a few questions about our safety and things like that. It's just like a normal question that comes to a normal person's mind. A bunch of guys who just came together and we just all joined hands and next to another doing something extraordinary. So, I guess everybody is asking these questions. >> We want to express solidarity to the people of Mumbai and we want things to change that's why we're all here. >> This is a very clear message to whoever has done it. There's no way they'll ever, ever bomb any rate. They can go on and on and on trying. End of the day, they'll be the losers, whoever has done this, which is not so unclear, I guess. >> Eventually, there is a lot of anger among-- I've been here since birth. >> Yeah. >> And nothing can break the spirit of the city. Nobody can ever do that. >> We need to show united front against these events because the thing they want is to propagate fear and we're not gonna let them affect us so adversely. I think now we realize how each and every person matters mostly and it's not the elite class, the middle class, it's Mumbai as a whole. And I think it's hit home really hard to everybody right now. >> Yeah. >> I mean it's not like we haven't had these events in the past. We've had the train blast, but every sector now has been affected and I think this time we will actually react as a whole. >> And this time, these are places that-- where it's connected with us because these are places which we could have been at. >> We never thought it would have happened, you know. Life was so calm [ unk ] and came back and I was about to hit the bed and all this happened. It was really sad. >> Terror has no eyes. It has no name. It has got no feelings. There's no use of showing them anything in life. They are so much brainwashed. They don't have their own soul for them. >> They're not fighting religion. It is not a person they are fighting or an individual they are fighting. They're not fighting jihad. They are fighting terrorism. Terrorism itself is a religion. I've lived all my life in Mumbai. We were grown up in Mumbai. I've lived in Mumbai, enjoyed Mumbai, but at the moment, totally frustrating. Maybe time will take care of it, but what about the moment? We had grown so much and now we're going back. Why? Why? Because our whole government and the administration is totally ineffective. I've lost a very dear friend's husband. It is absolutely tragic. I think it is really tragic and I'm glad we are doing something. 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