The Thanksgiving-eve terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, were a startling reminder that Islamist terrorists remain a persistent threat to the West and its allies–and that extremist groups are constantly striving to exploit the deficiencies of police and intelligence services. But they should have been less startling in India, where terrorist attacks have frequently plagued major cities in recent years. With separatist insurgencies in the Northeast and the ongoing conflict in Kashmir, the country has long been a hotbed of political violence. But the 2006 suburban railway attacks in Mumbai and this year’s bombings in New Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore, and Ahmedabad–all of which bear some resemblance to the latest tragedy–suggest that India has a fearsome domestic fight on its hands.

Foreign jihadis operating in India, most of whom hail from the Pakistani border regions, have become increasingly brazen. The Mumbai terrorists came ashore covertly in inflatable speedboats, then systematically assaulted a series of symbolic and strategic targets–a far cry from planting makeshift bombs in public spaces and slinking away. At the same time, India’s own disaffected Muslim population has provided these foreign jihadis with an expanding pool of willing recruits. According to investigators, the group that claimed responsibility for the September 2008 bombings in New Delhi and Ahmedabad, the Indian Mujahedin, appears to be comprised of young, middle-class, educated Indian Muslims. The scale and sophistication of the Mumbai attacks, which were likely carried out by radicals trained by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group, is likely owed in part to the planning and support of a local extremist network.