The Hindu : New Delhi News : Up close with terrorists' machinations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 06, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Up close with terrorists' machinations

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: Terrorism in the 21st Century is increasingly becoming more and more dangerous. Just one mistake -- one plot that slips under the radar -- is all that the terrorists need to accomplish their mission.

That is the running theme of a new ten-part series titled "Nat Geo Investigates Season 2: Terrorism" premiering on National Geographic Channel on September 11.

The series, which aims to unravel the inside story of the deadliest terrorist attacks across the world, will focus on the people, the planning and the use of technology to give television viewers a closer understanding of the evolving face of a new global power: terrorists. The stark fact is that there have been an overwhelming number of terrorism-related deaths since 9/11 and there seems to be no end to the menace.

Speaking about the upcoming series, National Geographic Channel India Senior Vice-President (Programming) Joy Bhattacharjya says: "To defeat the evil designs of terrorists, we must understand them and that's what our series focuses on. Covering various acts of terrorism that shook the world, the series intends to make the viewers understand about the machinations of terrorists. Our message through this series is that India must fight back by being more alert, aware and responsible".

Intertwining real footage, compelling interviews of survivors and a first-hand account from a potential suicide bomber, the series provides an in-depth look at global terrorism today.

A two-hour special episode, "Bin Laden's Spy In America", will showcase how Mohammad survived more than 14 years as Al-Qaeda's chief mole inside the United States and how he coordinated the movements of Bin Laden in and out of Afghanistan. It will be aired on September 11.

To make viewers understand how terrorists formulated their plans, infiltrated the most powerful nation on earth and executed an act of terror that changed the face of the world are "Osama Rising" (September 12), "Countdown to Terror" (September 13), "Zero Hour" (September 14) and "End Game" (September 15).

The series also showcases a first ever feature programme on the Kandahar episode, "IC 814 Hijack". Through dramatic recreations, interviews with hostages and government negotiators, the episode will try to bring alive the traumatic and politically explosive set of events that unfolded on ground and in air. This episode will be aired on September 18.

"Hostage TV" that investigates the harrowing story of the Moscow theatre siege will go on the air on September 19, while "Suicide Web" that uses the London attacks as a focal point while looking at the motivations of suicide bombers, the role of religion in their recruitment and how they have become one of the most dangerous threats facing the world will be aired on September 20.

"Al-Qaeda Calling" looks in detail at the Madrid train bombings of March 2004 during which explosive devices were triggered by mobile phones on four trains killing a large number of commuters. This episode will go on the air on September 21.

"Bio Terror Alert", exploring the murky world of bio-terror to find out what makes it so scary to governments and their bio-defence teams will be aired on September 22.

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