Mumbai Weapons

Antareptic reads between the lines in the photo below.

This picture, taken in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, is disturbing on a number of levels.

These aren't AK-47s, the cheap and ubiquitous automatic weapons favored in the third world because, while crude, will shoot under almost any circumstance. No, these are Heckler & Koch MP5s, the standard submachine gun of security services throughout the world, including our own special forces in all branches of the military.

This isn't a black market gun. While people living in caves in Afghanistan can and do manufacture Kalashnikovs by hand, the MP5 is a sophisticated weapon requiring high tech metallurgy and other technologies for their production.

Pakistan Ordinance Factories manufactures these weapons under license from HK, and they are under the control of the Pakistani Ministry of Defense.

Its hard to escape the implications.

But -- as one of the commenters point out -- the pictures I've seen depict the terrorists armed with AK-47 variants.

Those certainly aren't H-K's. The first photo probably depicts weapons used by Indian commandos. And they don't have terrorist blood smeared on them.