Terror In Mumbai!

[+Dave 2,322]

"Go home, tell them of us, and say for your tomorrow, we gave up our today".`

 

 

Amen.....heroes one and all.

[Mannie 21]

Yeah well, nothing much I can add to whats already been said by you guys.

I heard the horrible news yesterday but was not near my lapster, so I couldn't reply right away.

I am so sorry for the loss of innocent lives and wish fast recovery for all injured.

All the best for the Indian forces who have done just about everything they could and stood up against evil.

 

If we will not join hands together against evil,

We will be hanged together side by side by him.

 

"Go home, tell them of us, and say for your tomorrow, we gave up our today".`

 

Amen.

Edited November 29, 2008 by Mannie

[+ghostrider883 526]

The name of the operation by the Indian security forces was "Operation Black Tornado".

The number of dead has risen to 195. It will go up even further.

 

India pays tribute to its heroes

 

NDTV Correspondent

Saturday, November 29, 2008 10:19 AM (Mumbai)

When a battle begins, there is no saying who shall be martyred. When Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan prepared for battle, he would not have known it would be his last. But he died every inch the soldier, fighting for his country and his fellow soldiers.

 

The 31-year-old was leading a team of NSG commandos in the Taj operation when one of his men was shot. Sandeep turned back to help.

 

He arranged for his evacuation and then, disregarding his own safety, chased the terrorists to another floor of the huge Taj Mahal hotel, continuously engaging them in battle.

 

Isolated from the rest of his team he eventually fell to the bullets of the terrorists. Seriously hurt, he succumbed to his injuries.

 

Major Unnikrishnan was the only son of a retired Indian Satelliote Research Organisation official K Unnikrishnan. He was commissioned in the Bihar Regiment of the Indian Army in 1999. He was deputed to the NSG in 2007.

 

Sandeep had served in Jammu and Kashmir and had exposure to counter insurgency operations.

 

At his Bangalore home on Saturday morning people flocked to pay their homage before the final journey.

 

Sandeep's body, wrapped in the tricolour was laid before a framed photograph of the hero and people -- friends, leaders, colleagues, family and strangers, filed past with bent heads and folded hands.

 

Unnikrishnan was all set to visit his ancestral home in Kerala next month. His uncle's home at Beypore in Kozhikode district was in a sombre mood as the news came that Unni, 28, is no more.

 

Unnikrishnan was on deputation to the NSG for the past 18 months. His parents are based in Bangalore.

 

Meanwhile, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare's funeral procession began from his house in Mumbai on Saturday. Karkare was killed while leading from the front in the battle against terrorists attack in Mumbai on Wednesday.

 

A huge procession carried Karkare's picture on a vehicle decorated with flowers. A lot of people and cops gathered at the congregation to pay their tributes to the martyr.

 

As terrorists on Wednesday night targeted 10 Mumbai landmarks, Karkare donned his helmet and bullet-proof jacket and set out to take them on. The protection, however, proved inadequate and Karkare fell to the terrorists' bullets. In all, 148 people were killed in the attacks and 327 were injured.

 

Sequence of events: Nariman House

 

NDTV Correspondent

Saturday, November 29, 2008 12:28 PM (Mumbai)

 

At 9:20 pm on Wednesday, two men came on a scooter at Nariman house, near the Bootleggers Pub in Colaba and hurled grenade at a nearby petrol pump.

 

 

The grenade missed the petrol reservoir but destroyed the facade of station.After hurling the grenade, the terrorists ran into Nariman House building behind petrol pump, which is a Jewish residential building. The terrorists murdered two people there.

 

 

A few terrorists then remained holed up silently for hours. They surfaced again in the morning and hold people hostage and the hostage drama still continues.

 

 

At 9:24 pm, another attack occurred at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus where two gunmen stormed in the station. They hurled hand grenades and fired at the people there.Many were injured after the firing. The terrorists ran out in a short while.

 

 

On Thursday, militants started firing again and held the people residing there as hostages. Army commandos retaliated. Encounter went on for the entire day, no one could be rescued.

 

 

Seven hostages rescued at night. Lull after 3 am

 

 

On Friday, gunshots heard early in morning, exchange took place for about 5 minutes.

 

 

Helicopters circling Nariman House areas, doing surveillance.

 

 

Sporadic gunfire being heard.

 

 

People living around the place asked not to come outside. Area evacuated.

 

 

Commandos airdropped on Nariman House for final operation.

 

 

At around 6.15 pm on Friday, commandos emerged out of the building, waving a thumbs up. However, after few minutes, the authorities clarify that the operation is still not over and NSG is yet to capture one floor.

 

 

NSG said at around 7.45 pm that no one is found alive in Nariman House. Five hostages, including Jewish Rabbi and his wife, and two terrorists were found dead.

 

Sequence of events: Taj hotel

 

NDTV Correspondent

Saturday, November 29, 2008 12:26 PM (Mumbai)

 

Wednesday, 11 pm: Firing around Colaba, terrorists arrive inside Taj hotel, Gateway of India.

 

 

12 midnight: Firing of hand grenades inside Taj Hotel, police gheraos the hotel, ready to shoot on order, area cordoned off.

 

 

Thursday, 1 am: Massive blast inside the central dome of the Taj Palace hotel, flames around the structure, smoke cloud lift up to the sky, two rounds of hand grenades.

 

 

2 am: One round of hand grenade thrown outside the window from Taj's heritage wing to the park infront of the Gateway; police ready to fire and enter in big numbers inside the hotel.

 

 

2:30 am: Army deployed, two trucks full arrive and enter hotel lobby and outside. Media asked to move back by 100 metres. Fire spreads across top floor of Taj heritage wing.

 

 

2:45 am: Some people exit from kitchen fire exit and are taken from the new wing of Taj to the back exit to leave, guided by police.

 

 

3:00 am: Fire engines arrive, police sirens go off. Shooting and gunfiring heard inside lobby and heritage building. Fire spreads quickly to the left dome of the hotel, engulfs entire column in flames.

 

 

3:30 am: People scream from inside the heritage building as fire spreads. People seen at windows howling for help. Fire engines start rescue, try putting out fire on top floor with water sprays.

 

 

3:45 am: Fire engine ladders pull out people from windows while simultaneously trying to get the fire doused. People are slowly brought down as firemen run with search torches, break windows to pull people out.

 

 

4:00 am: Men, women climb down, howling as they are rescued. Most of them say they were told to stay in their rooms. Some of them had seen the terrorists shooting around. Most of them come down shocked by smoke and firing. Ambulances take them to nearby hospitals.

 

 

4:30 am: Another bout of big firing inside hotel. Action shifts from left heritage site where the fire continues to spread quickly to middle of the hotel as terrorists run from the centre dome to the new tower.

 

 

5 am: Solid rounds of firing, police step up heat with commandos and bomb squads arriving. Public told to move away. Fire engines continue rescue as people are brought down. Fire flames right again, both central and left dome in fire again.

 

 

5:30 am: Fire appears under control, but terrorists holed up in new tower in the exclusive club of Taj called Chambers. 100-150 locked in there, most influential corporates, businessman, policy makers at the venue. People kept hostage.

 

 

6:00 am: Police, navy, army forces take control and say they are ready for encounter. Firing across the building. Windows are broken. Personnel gherao Gateway and top floors of Taj with sniper guns.

 

 

7:00 am: Policemen spread across the floor on the ground of the Gateway of India. Another round of firing.

 

 

8:00 am: People are brought out to the lobby, some people told to duck down behind scaffolding as a new round of firing takes place between terrorists and the police outside the main porch.

 

 

8:30 am: Another 50 people are brought out of the Taj club called Chambers and taken slowly by the police in Best buses, to evacuate them.

 

 

9 am: More rounds of firing, many more people stuck inside.

 

 

10 am: Police almost finishes encounter, until one more round of firing happens.

 

 

11 am: Many people are taken on stretchers outside in critical care vans, some alive, some injured and some dead.

 

 

6:00 pm: Three fresh explosions have been reported at the Taj hotel in Mumbai on Thursday and rescue operations are on.

 

 

7:00 pm: Fire flared up at hotel Taj Mahal Palace for the third time, with huge flames leaping up from the roof of the heritage old wing of the building.

 

 

7:20 pm: Police says one terrorist alive inside Taj and firing at commandos.

 

 

On Friday, combat teams, paramilitary forces and the terrorists opened fire three times in one hour.

 

 

The NSG commandos launched their final assault at the Taj Mahal hotel on Saturday. Everyone took position and the terrorist encounter is still continuing. The police is saying there one or two terrorists still holed up at the Crystal Ballroom in the hotel.

 

 

Some people were evacuated on Friday. The lobby and porch were the key points of attack as police gherao that.

 

 

In the wee hours of Saturday, fresh explosions were heard at the heritage hotel. The NSG commandos started a fire in the hotel to smoke out terrorists.

 

 

Two terrorists have been gunned down and one has been caught alive on Saturday. Two of the hotel staffs were rescued. One commando was killed in the operation.

 

 

Some hand grenades and AK-47s were recovered from the terrorists.

 

 

The NSG has said that they have the control over the hotel, but the operation will be over only when all rooms are sanitised.

 

Sequence of events: Trident hotel

 

NDTV Correspondent

Saturday, November 29, 2008 12:24 PM (Mumbai)

On November 27, at around 9:35 pm, Oberoi-Trident hotel came under attack when terrorists stormed the hotel.

 

Till midnight, unknown number of people still trapped inside the hotel. Sources initially confirmed gunmen inside but were not sure about the numbers. The operation to flush out terrorists continued till November 28 morning.

 

The GoC said there are about 12 terrorists holed up in three places -- about two-three persons at Nariman House, five to six at the Taj hotel and the rest at Oberoi-Trident hotel.

 

Elite commandoes of the topline security forces from army, navy, NSG and Rapid Action Force got involved in the raging encounter with unspecified number of heavily-armed terrorists in Oberoi-Trident hotel. Throughout the day, grenade explosions set various floors.

 

Two hotel staff and one security guard were confirmed dead.

 

Army was rushed in five columns from adjoining areas to beef up its strength, ahead of a final effort to rid Oberoi-Trident in from the grip of extremely trained terrorists. About 200 people have been trapped and terrorists exploded grenades that set the roof ablaze amid exchange of gunfire.

 

Two units of MARCOS withdrawn from the Taj and Oberoi-Trident hotels after the National Security Guard (NSG) arrived in Mumbai. They were re-deployed to participate in the final assault following after NSG's request.

 

Two marine commandos and 14 Army troops were injured in the operation at both Taj and Oberoi Oberoi-Trident hotels.

 

NSG commandos launched an operation to flush out terrorists and soon fire was seen emanating from the fourth floor of Oberoi-Trident hotel. The fire engulfed several rooms and reportedly broke out in the hotel.

 

Security agencies captured an LeT activist Abu Ismail alive. They find out that he hails from Faridkot in Pakistan.

 

On November 28, during midnight, Director General of National Security Guard (NSG) J K Dutt said two terrorists are holed up in the 8th floor of the Oberoi hotel while in the Trident section the combing operation has been completed. Dutt said we do not have any report of any terrorist being holed up in Trident.

 

A minor explosion took place at the Trident hotel where about 100 people were believed to be trapped inside. The security forces began evacuating Trident hotel.

 

 

 

When the operations against the siege of Mumbai appeared neared last stages, the NSG commandos evacuated nearly 35 hostages from Oberoi hotel after a fierce battle.

 

 

Finally, the new building of Taj hotel was totally flushed out and cleared and handed over to police, but one or two terrorists moved into the adjacent old heritage building.

 

 

Later in the night, the NSG commandos cleared the Trident hotel of the terrorists and began sanitising the place. And when the sanitisation operation was complete, they declared the operation complete.

[+ghostrider883 526]

I want to live : Captured terrorist

 

His name is Azam Amir Kasav, he is 21 years old, speaks fluent English, hails from tehsil Gipalpura in Faridkot in Pakistan, and is the only terrorist from this audacious operation to have been captured alive.

Azam who was tight-lipped initially, cracked upon seeing the mutilated body of his colleague and pleaded with the medical staff at Nair to save his life. "I do not want to die," he reportedly said. "Please put me on saline."

 

This fellow should be tortured everday of his miserable life.

 

Azam reportedly disclosed that the group left Karachi in one boat and upon reaching Gujarat they hoisted a white flag on their boat and were intercepted by two officers of the coast guard near Porbandar and while they were being questioned one of the terrorists grappled with one of the officers slit his throat and threw the body in the boat. The other officer was told to help the group reach Mumbai. When they were four nautical miles away from Mumbai there were three speedboats waiting for them where the other coastguard officer was killed. All the ammo was then shifted into these three spedboats they reached Colaba jetty on Wednesday night and the ten men broke up into groups of two each. Four of these men went to the Taj Mahal hotel, two of them to the Trident hotel, two towards Nariman House at Colaba and two of which Azam was one moved to CST.

 

Azam, who was at Nair hospital for nearly four hours, was taken away by the intelligence agencies in the early hours of Thursday to an unknown location after the hospital authorities had removed the bullet from his hand and declared that his condition stable. But it seems the police grilling was so intense that before he left the hospital for an undisclosed location he pleaded with the police and the medical staff to kill him. "Now , I don't want to live," he said.

[kesegy 5]

RIP to all murdered civilians and brave Indian soldiers who died in the line of duty

[Miracles 0]

Sad news but don't be fooled by the trigger men. Find and prosecute the masterminds.

 

These cannot be done without careful planning.

[Ruggbutt 45]

Sad news but don't be fooled by the trigger men. Find and prosecute the masterminds.

 

These cannot be done without careful planning.

I disagree. When you kill the trigger men they are not able to do so again. If you can capture one alive do so for intel. That way you can capture the masterminds. Unfortunately we've seen that these "types" cannot be reasoned with. Therefore unless it's extremely easy to do a bullet is the only negotiation that you can perform with them. The old adage "Kill 'em all let god sort 'em out" is the right philosophy in this instance.

[macelena 1,070]

I disagree. When you kill the trigger men they are not able to do so again. If you can capture one alive do so for intel. That way you can capture the masterminds. Unfortunately we've seen that these "types" cannot be reasoned with. Therefore unless it's extremely easy to do a bullet is the only negotiation that you can perform with them. The old adage "Kill 'em all let god sort 'em out" is the right philosophy in this instance.

 

I don´t know if i said it before: "the only good terrorist is the dead one, and the only thing better than that is

a seriously wounded terrorist that tells you where are his fellas"

A western terrorist, such as a FARC, IRA, or ETA member is speaking loud before caught, scared the s**t out, but you need to

take islamists to the limits of the pill overdose to get something from them.

HUMINT is mainly gathered by traitors you buy inside the enemy, but these as´oles could be fooling you.

 

Hard to say if taking prisoners in such circunstances is worth the risk of a suicidal grenade or some try like it

Edited November 29, 2008 by macelena

[GwynO 16]

This surviving prik wants his shaheed, while he still breathes, if he has been trained as per the islamist terror manuals he will give nothing but red herrings. All of it should be recorded and the scum bag kept alive as long as possible in prison. His ultimate dissapointment will be that he lived to see that his actions did more harm than good to his fellow islamists as his own country publicly wash their hands of him and India hopefully will pursue his trail all the way to his doorstep.

 

India will win out, the mughals came, they failed. Period.

[+ghostrider883 526]

26 foreigners killed included eight Israelis, five Americans, two French nationals, two Australians, two Canadians, a German, a Japanese, a British Cypriot, an Italian, a Singaporean, a Thai and a Mauritian. More than 150 Indian citizens killed.

Indian security forces lost 15 men from the Mumbai Police(including Ant-terrorist Squad), 2 men from the National Security Guard, 1 from Railway Police, 1 from the Home Guard.

It was a tearful final good-bye to the martyred soldiers wrapped in the tri-colour as they set out on their final journey .

Salute to the Mumbai Fire Brigade, who in face of gunfire from the terrorist went about doing their job of putting out teh fires adn tried to rescue as many peopel as the ycould from the top floors of the Taj Hotel.

Its been revealed by the captured terrorist that they planned to blow up the Taj Hotel as well as the Oberoi . The mad men underestimated the strenngth of the 100+ year old Taj building.

[Silverbolt 104]

Man, this is really bad and sad, i don't know how to feel.... why people do this? damn, i can't understand...

why not an Boycott to what you dislike?

These people betray a religion and don't fight for any ideology...they're mental degenerated.

 

<S> for who were affected with it....

 

i'd like this kind of mental degenerated read this to feel offended .

Edited November 30, 2008 by Silverbolt

[+Dave 2,322]

Yes this entire incident is terrible beyond words. Just keep the families involved in our prayers.