Date: November 27th 2008

MUMBAI RAVAGED:
i) FIDAYEEN ATTACKS PARALYSE CITY; TAJ, OBEROI MAIN TARGETS (pioneer)
TN Raghunatha | Mumbai

78 die, 200 hurt; many taken hostage

Mumbai didn’t realise what hit it on Wednesday evening. The city that never sleeps re-lived the nightmare of danse macabre when a series of bomb explosions and incidents of indiscriminate firing killed at least 78 persons and left over 200 injured.

Among those killed while battling the terrorists were Maharashra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner of police Ashok Kampte and about half a dozen other policemen.

The merchants of death struck at some landmarks in south Mumbai, including the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Taj Mahal Hotel, Hotel Oberoi and Leopold Cafe, and some other places in the suburbs.

Used though the nation's commercial capital is to numerous serial bomb blasts ever since it had its first brush with international terrorism, which claimed 257 lives on March 12, 1993, the terrorists managed to unleash panic in the megapolis. They fired indiscriminately at people from sophisticated weapons, lobbed hand grenades at will and engineered blasts in the island city and its suburbs. What aggravated the scare among Mumbaikars was the fact that the terror-mongers seemed to strike at will and then melt away quietly among the victims.

After what seemed to be a stray incident at Leopold Café and Bar at Colaba in south Mumbai around 10 pm, which saw gunmen open fire indiscriminately at a few persons, there was a spate of reports from different parts of the metropolis till the wee hours of Thursday. By midnight, at least eight such incidents had been reported.

If anything, the terrorists' intention was clear: They wanted and succeeded in attacking south Mumbai's landmarks — the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (which is more popularly known as Victoria Terminus and the Taj and Oberoi hotels. Besides, they engineered taxi blasts at Mazgaon and Vile Parle.

At least 10 persons were reportedly killed at CST alone. On his part, Railway Police Commissioner AK Sharma said that two terrorists - armed with AK-47 rifles and grenades -- entered the CST's suburban terminal around 10.30 pm and fired at people and police from their sophisticated weapons.

Eyewitnesses said the two terrorists kept on exchanging fire with police officers who tried to repulse them. Before long, the CST was evacuated of passengers and police kept on trying to repulse the firing terrorists for almost two hours - an effort that yielded results only around midnight. By then the two terrorists had fired several rounds and hurled hand grenades, killing some people on the spot.

Simultaneously, there was action elsewhere - like Taj and Oberoi hotels, where the police were fighting it out till the wee hours of Thursday. There were reports that two terrorists were still holed up in Hotel Taj, where an explosion was reported after midnight.

There were also reports that the terrorists had taken hostage at least 15 persons, most of them British and US nationals, at the Oberoi and Taj hotels. Firing was also reported in hotel Marriott. Firing was also reported from a building owned by Jews and taken over by terrorists.

Army was also called in late at night and commandos were requisitioned from New Delhi, it was reported. Terrorists `hijacked' a white police jeep near Metro cinema in south Mumbai.

Two blasts were heard from the Taj Hotel, with smoke rising from the spot. Firing near Maharashtra State Assembly building in south Mumbai.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh describes the situation in Mumbai as "very serious". Two terrorists were also reported near Chowpattty.

Meanwhile, in a related development, all starred hotels in New Delhi were also put on high alert to per-empt any terror strike in the wake of the unprecedented display of audacity by the terror-mongers in Mumbai.


NEW MODUS OPERANDI


Gunfire and blasts at several places

At least 70 dead, dozens hurt

Terrorists use automatic weapons, grenades

Attacks continue for over three hours

Firing at VT station

Attackers target Oberoi hotel with grenades

Firing in Taj Mahal hotel

Firing at CST, station evacuated

Terrorists hiding in various places

Terrorists vanish in police van firing indiscriminately

Taxi blast in Vile Parle

Grenade attack at Metro cinema

Firing near JJ school of architecture

Oberoi hotel lobby set on fire

Firing at Cama hotel

Encounter in Hotel Oberoi continued till going to press


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ii) 7 foreigners among 15 taken hostage (dailypioneer)
PNS | Mumbai

From: dailypioneer date: 27.11.08

Two terrorists carrying guns on Wednesday night took 15 people, half of them foreigners, hostage on the roof of the luxury Taj Hotel here, one of the hostages who managed to escape said.

Two youth in their 20s came to the restaurant of the hotel and took 15 people to the roof of the hotel, Rakesh Patel, a businessman from London who lives in Hong Kong, told NDTV giving the first eyewitness account of what happened in the five-star hotel in South Mumbai.

"The two young boys came to the restaurant and took us upstairs. We were taken to the 18th floor from where we escaped", he said. Patel said the terrorists wanted to know if any one of the hostages was carrying American and British passports. They clearly wanted foreigners, he added.




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iii) Mayhem in Mumbai: Terrorist attacks claim at least 80 lives; hundreds taken hostage awn)
By Anand Kumar

From: Dawn date: 27.11.08


MUMBAI, Nov 26: Heavy exchanges of gunfire were taking place at around 2 this morning between police and terrorists, who were holed up in two luxury hotels in south Mumbai, after the worst terrorist attack in India had seen at least 80 people killed and over 150 injured.

The army was called out as terror attacks swept through the city late at night, with a third 5-star hotel in a suburb also having came under attack. Police claimed to have killed two terrorists, even as a police vehicle was hijacked by the attackers.

The terrorists opened fire at nearly half a dozen places in south Mumbai at around 10pm on Wednesday, and soon took hundreds, including foreigners and businessmen, hostage. Gunmen opened fire from AK-47 rifles at the city’s busiest railway terminal, CST, killing nearly 20 people.

Fear swept through the city, as frequent gunfire was heard from public places. Explosive-laden vehicles, including a taxi near the international airport, blew up. The authorities decided to call in the army early this morning and sought additional commandos from Delhi.

Terrorists took hundreds hostage in the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels in south Mumbai, minutes after they had fired with their AK-47 rifles. They threw hand-grenades at the Oberoi hotel, setting two floors aflame.

Commandos tried unsuccessfully to enter the two hotels for at least three hours. At around 1am, a fierce gun-battle broke out at the historic Taj hotel outside the Gateway of India, and flames could be seen leaping out of the dome.

The terrorists also entered a hospital and fired at patients and police. Later, they hijacked a police vehicle and disappeared into the night.

Police were clueless about the number of terrorists, their identity or their background. The surprise attack took the city of 15 million by surprise, with gunshots being heard in the tourist district of Colaba at around 10 pm.

Soon the city streets were deserted as policemen with bullet-proof vests took over south Mumbai. All roads were sealed to prevent the terrorists from escaping.

Eyewitnesses at the two hotels and at the CST railway station said the terrorists were firing indiscriminately. At the busy railway terminus, scores of passengers fell victim to the bullets. Even after midnight, the blood-stained platforms were uncleared and injured passengers could be seen lying there.

Police warned residents to stay at home as more attacks are feared.

Agencies add: Indian TV channels reported that the chief of Mumbai’s police anti-terrorist squad, Hemant Karkare, was among those killed.

Attackers also targeted the Cafe Leopold, a famous restaurant and hang-out for tourists in Mumbai. “I guess they were after foreigners, because they were asking for British or American passports,” said Rakesh Patel, a British witness who lives in Hong Kong and was staying at the Taj hotel on business. “They had bombs.”

“They came from the restaurant and took us up the stairs,” he told the NDTV news channel, smoke stains all over his face. “Young boys, maybe 20 years old, 25 years old. They had two guns.”

Maharashtra state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said that an encounter was going on at the two hotels and the situation was grave. “Our men are on the job,” he added.

Maharashtra police chief A.N. Roy said: “These are terrorist strikes in at least seven places.”

Some of the injured were evacuated from the Taj on the hotel’s golden luggage carts, while waiters in black and white formal wear and chefs were seen leaving the Oberoi.

“The lobby of the Taj hotel is on fire,” a police spokesman said. “We are trying to find out how many people are inside the hotel.”

Sourav Mishra, a Reuters reporter, who was with friends at the Cafe Leopold when gunmen opened fire around 9:30pm, had suffered injuries.

“Fifty-eight bodies have been brought in. There are another 50 who are injured, some critical, who have been transferred to the nearby J.J. Hospital,” a spokesman for the city’s St George’s Hospital said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attacks and said the Maharashtra state government would be given all the assistance required.

The head of the Madrid regional government, Esperanza Aguirre, was staying in the Taj hotel at the time of attack but she and her delegation escaped unhurt, a government spokesman in Madrid said.

The BBC News website said a British member of the European Parliament, Sajjad Karim, was also in the hotel at the time and saw a gunman open fire in the lobby.

“All I saw was one man on foot carrying a machine gun-type of weapon -- which I then saw him firing from and I saw people hitting the floor, people right next to me,” he was quoted as saying.

One British guest told local Indian television that he had been among a dozen people herded together by two heavily armed men and taken up to the hotel’s upper floors.

“They were very young, like boys really, wearing jeans and T-shirts,” the guest said.

“They said they wanted anyone with British and American passports and then they took us up the stairs. I think they wanted to take us to the roof,” he said, adding that he and another hostage had managed to escape when they reached the 18th floor.As he was speaking, there was a loud explosion from the roof of the hotel.

It was not immediately clear if some hostages were still being held.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband “unreservedly” condemned the attacks, saying they were yet another reminder “of the threat we face from violent extremists.”