MUSLIM TERRORIST KILLED IN NARIMAN HOUSE, 6 MORE LEFT
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
Terrorist killed in Nariman House, 6 more left: Cops
Rediff
November 26, 2008 22:40 IST
Last Updated: November 27, 2008 12:49 IST
12:42 PM: Police say one terrorist holed up inside Nariman
House has been killed. Six more terrorists are suspected to
be hiding inside the building.
12:14 PM: At least four terrorists are holed up in the Taj
Hotel where 40 to 50 guests were still trapped, says Major
R K Hooda, General Officer Commanding of Maharashtra, Goa
[Images] and Gujarat. Two bodies have been brought out of
the Taj Hotel and taken away in an ambulance.
11:25 AM: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil has
said that there can be 10 to 12 terrorists involved in the
terror attack inside Taj Hotel. Five of them have been
killed and one of them arrested, he told media persons
outside the hotel as security forces prepared to launch an
assault to end the terror.
11:09 AM: Latest reports say that the Navy and Army have
taken control at Oberoi. Meanwhile, a child of foreign
nationality and an Indian maid have been seen coming out of
Nariman House in South Mumbai. Reports also say that US
intelligence officials are among the foreigners killed at
Taj Hotel.
10:57 AM: Fire brigade personnel have started rescuing
people from Taj Hotel. Top French Nuclear physicist has
also been rescued from the hotel.
10:40 AM: Smoke has been seen billowing from the new
building of the Taj Hotel -- which stands next to the old
building where terrorists are holed up. While NSG operation
was on in the old building, fire brigade personnel were
trying to douse fire in the new wing.
10:30 AM: The number of policemen killed has gone up to 16.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] will address the
nation after 7 PM after the Cabinet meeting. The
Maharashtra state Cabinet will meet at 2 PM.
09:30 AM: Terrorist out in the open! A terrorist holed up
inside Nariman House jumps to the adjacent building.
Meanwhile, an emergency Cabinet meeting has been called at
1100 hours.
09:27 AM: IB has arrested a Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist of
Pakistani origin from Mumbai. The e-mail sent after terror
attacks has been traced to Russia [Images]. Authorities say
the mail was sent by Lashkar operatives. They also believe
that the Lashkar terrorists came directly from Karachi to
Mumbai.
09:30 AM: Firing has been heard near Nariman House in
Colaba. Police have cordoned off the area amid reports that
terrorists are holed up in the building.
09:09 AM: Curfew has been clamped in Colaba after firing
intensified in the Taj hotel. Police are using smoke
cannisters to disable terrorists' vision. Meanwhile,
Hostages are being evacuated from the Taj hotel even as
gunbattle rages. A journalist has been injured in the
firing. All international flights from Mumbai have been
cancelled.
08:55 AM: Agencies have reported that terrorists are holed
up inside the Cama Hospital. Commandoes have started firing
at terrorists.
08:05 AM: Fresh firing erupted early on Thursday in Taj
hotel as commandos moved in to flush out terrorists holding
some foreigners hostage.
Sharp shooters of army, NSG and other security forces moved
into Mumbai's landmark hotel. Police believe that the
number of holed out terrorists could be three or four.
Another luxury hotel Trident (formerly Oberoi) was under
siege with some terrorists holding some foreigners hostage.
07:50 AM: More grim news is coming in from Taj Hotel, where
several staff members have been feared killed in the
terrorist attack.
Over 100 guests are still stuck inside the hotel, where two
terrorists are reportedly holed up.
At Nariman House in Colaba, onlookers informed that the
police exchanged fire about an hour ago.
The place looked like a riot-hit site, swarming with police
officials and military trucks. Most people have been holed
up here since an explosion shook the area at 10.30 pm.
The explosion occurred when the terrorists lobbed hand
grenades at the local petrol pump. The blast was followed
by a gunfight between police forces and the terrorists.
06:20 AM: The hostage crisis continued at Taj Hotel in the
wee hours of Thursday as Army commandos moved in to flush
out the terrorists.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh
assured that there was no hostage situation at Cama
Hospital in South Mumbai.
An Army commando was reportedly injured in the shoot-out.
An explosion was also reported in the lobby of the Taj
Hotel
04:23 AM: Vaihayasi Pande-Daniel reports that the fire that
engulfed the old wing of the Taj Mahal [Images] Hotel in
Mumbai has been put out. Though the major conflagration has
been contained, flames continue to flicker, occasionally
leaping into life, at the corner of the heritage wing.
Police and fire brigade personnel have placed ladders
against the side of the building, and are bringing hotel
guests out through that means. Some foreigners who had been
evacuated were being ferried to a nearby hospital for first
aid, while others are being taken by bus to alternate
accommodations. Officials here estimate that most of the
guests inside the hotel have been evacuated.
Commandos of the Indian navy meanwhile have staked out
vantage points covering all exit points, while others of
their number prowl around the perimeter of the hotel.
A group of Taj employees stood clustered on the pavement
opposite the hotel, staring at the hotel through tear-
filled eyes. They had been told to leave, they said ? but
clearly, they could not bring themselves to walk away from
a hotel that, to them and to most Mumbaikars, is shared
heritage than mere hotel.
Elsewhere, an attractive young woman attempted to restore
some semblance of order to her silver-zari sari. She was
drenched, and still disoriented from her experiences of the
night.
"We were partying, and suddenly there was firing all over,"
the woman, who had just been evacuated by ladder from a
window some 30 feet up, recalled. "I'd read about such
things in the paper, and routinely turned the page? but
when it happens to you, when you experience it?"
03:57 AM: Though the firefight at the Oberoi is still far
from finished, the takeover of the operation by units of
the Indian Army [Images] appears to have taken the South
Mumbai hotel off the 'critical' list.
Vaihayasi Pande-Daniel reports for Rediff that most of the
one dozen fire trucks that had been stationed around the
Oberoi have been dispatched to the Taj Mahal Hotel, where a
blazing fire threatens to devastate the old wing of the
iconic hotel. Daniel cites police sources as saying the
army commandoes are doing a systematic sweep of the hotel,
lobbing grenades ahead of them to take out hidden dangers
before securing each successive wing of the hotel.
The constant bang of grenades from within the hotel
continues to alarm the crowds gathered outside the hotel,
and kept at a distance by police. Not all of them have come
to gape, however. Vadhavan, a businessman from New Delhi
[Images], sits in rumpled attire on the parapet of Marine
Drive, trying to stay awake.
He had arrived in Mumbai this evening at the head of a 13-
member business delegation. He was in the act of checking
into the Oberoi when the firing began. "I think the
shooting started at the Oberoi," says Vadhavan. "They
ushered us all out through a side entrance and told us to
leave. I got separated from the rest of my group; I think
they are waiting on the other side of the hotel."
The flushing out operation is far from finished; Vadhavan's
wait threatens to extend through what remains of this
night.
3:42 AM: At the Taj Hotel, where a joint operation
involving the Mumbai police, the Central Reserve Police
Force and a commando group from the Navy is engaged in
flushing out terrorists within the premises, PTI reports
that almost all the guests have been brought out to safety
at the time of writing this.
The situation continues to remain dangerous, however, with
an indeterminate number of terrorists within the hotel, two
of whom are believed to be holding a group of tourists
hostage on an upper floor.
Meanwhile, the fire that erupted in the old wing of the
historic hotel has spread alarmingly. The fire now burns
bright across at least two mid-level floors of the old
wing, and thick clouds of black smoke spew from the
signature minaret that crowns the hotel's roof.
03: 06 AM: A little over four hours since gunshots first
erupted at the CST railway terminal, and coordinated
terrorist attacks spread to various parts of South Bombay,
the situation remains fluid.
At the Taj Mahal Hotel, a contingent of Navy commandos has
joined the police and Central Reserve Police Force
personnel attempting to enter the hotel and flush out the
terrorists. From within the hotel, word is that occasional
explosions, and sporadic gunfire, continue at the time of
writing this.
At the Oberoi Hotel, the army has taken over the operation
and entered the hotel; it is now reportedly engaged in
flushing out the terrorists hiding within.
At the Cama Hospital, a specialty medical center for women
and children, official sources say terrorists are holed up
on the fourth floor and have been firing from that vantage
point. Police have surrounded the hospital and are engaging
the terrorists in an ongoing gun battle.
02:50 AM: Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and
Member of Parliament N N Krishnadas, who is staying at the
Taj Mahal Hotel, reports that as late as 2:10 AM,
explosions could be heard from within the premises.
Krishnadas told CNN that he is holed up in a room, and
outside of the noise of explosions and gunfire has no real
idea what is happening within the premises.
Meanwhile, the fire that broke out in one of the hotel's
middle floors has been spreading upwards, adding a fresh
hazard both to the police and CRPF personnel engaged in the
anti-terrorist operation and to the guests within the
hotel.
Even as police sources upped the toll in today's terrorist
strikes in Mumbai at 80 and counting, police continue to
lay siege to the Taj Mahal Hotel, where two terrorists are
believed to be holding at least 15 guests hostage on one of
the upper floors of the hotel.
The police are at this point in time unsure whether the two
hostage takers are the only terrorists within the hotel.
Meanwhile, the Indian Army has moved into the Oberoi and
the Trident, the two other South Mumbai hotels targeted in
today's terrorist strikes.
A battalion of the Indian army entered the Oberoi and began
an operation against the terrorists holed up inside. The
army was called in after the police took several
casualties, including the deaths of some senior officers.
With the army now in charge of this phase of the operation
? the first time the Indian army is operating in the city
since the 1992 riots ? the police has fallen back and is
focusing on cordoning off the area.
Vaihayasi Pande-Daniel, reporting for Rediff.com from
outside the Oberoi Hotel, reports that with the cordon
being drawn tight, people waiting outside are in a state of
panic, and desperately searching for information. A group
of senior bankers from Hyderabad are among those inside the
hotel to attend a conference; their Mumbai-based colleagues
are outside, awaiting word of their fate.
02: 25 AM: Mumbai's Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant
Karkare died of bullet wounds in the ongoing battle against
armed terrorists that is raging across several parts of
South Mumbai.
Vijay Salaskar, an officer attached to the Mumbai police
who has been famed as an 'encounter specialist', was
seriously injured in the ongoing gun battle and has been
rushed to hospital. In all, seven Mumbai policemen are
believed killed thus far.
Meanwhile, Railway Police Chief Ashok Sharma told
Rediff.com that at least 40 people were killed inside
Mumbai's nodal Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminus. "The attack
started around 9.35 pm," Sharma said. "Two terrorists were
inside. We can confirm at least 40 people killed."
It is yet unclear whether the terrorists are still on-site,
have left, or been killed. Sharma said there had been no
firing from within the terminus for the last two hours.
"Despite this, we are not allowing people to go into the
station as we are worried that the terrorists might have
planted bombs or left live grenades in the station," he
said.
Sharma said the official belief is that the two terrorists
had sneaked out of the station in the confusion following
the original assault.
Sudhir Dalvi, a sub-inspector attached to the Mumbai cell
of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, told Sheela Bhatt for
Rediff.com that his boss, ATS chief Hemant Karkare, and
senior police officers Vijay Salaskar and Additional
Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte, were killed in an
incident outside Mumbai's Cama Hospital.
"Our chief Karkare, my senior officer Salaskar and ACP
Kamte died while engaging terrorists outside the Cama
hospital," a sobbing Dalvi told Rediff.com. "All of a
sudden, terrorists threw grenades at Karkare leading to
chaos. We are unable to confirm whether they fell to
terrorist fire or were killed by the grenades."
Meanwhile, the army has moved into the Trident Hotel, the
third five-star hotel in the South Mumbai region that had
been targeted in tonight's coordinated terrorist strikes.
02:10 AM: It is now believed that 15 people, at least seven
of them foreigners, have been taken hostage by two
terrorists and are being held on the roof of the Taj Mahal
Hotel.
Rakesh Patel, a London-based businessman who managed to
escape, told NDTV that the two terrorists, estimated to be
in their early 20s, came to a restaurant on the ground
floor of the Taj, rounded up the hostages and took them to
the 18th floor. Patel, who was one among them, managed at
that point to escape.
Patel said the terrorists asked if any of the hostages were
carrying American or British passports, and said he got the
clear impression that they wanted foreigners.
01:50 AM: Krishnakumar reports from the Juhu region that a
bomb went off in a taxi that was speeding along the Western
Express Highway from Vile Parle towards Andheri, killing
two people and injuring two others.
"The taxi exploded and went up in flames as it sped past
the traffic island under the flyover at the domestic
airport," an eyewitness said on phone. "The vehicle, which
was up in flames soon after it crossed the traffic signal,
was on the left side. A bystander and a person in the taxi
were killed.
Reports indicate that this was perhaps the night's highest-
intensity blast. Krishnakumar reports that the taxi's doors
were found a distance of 50 meters or more away, and body
parts of the victims had been thrown even further.
01:43 AM: At least two suspected terroristswere shot dead
minutes earlier at the corner of Mumbai's Chowpatty.
Rediff's Vaihayasi Pande-Daniel, who is on the site,
reports that the area has been cordoned off and is swarming
with police officers; the Skoda is under guard and a
cellphone, a jacket, and items of footwear are strewn
around the vehicle.
Meanwhile at the Taj Mahal Hotel, the standoff between
police, who have surrounded the hotel, and terrorists who
are holed up inside, continues.
A short while ago, power went off in parts of the hotel,
adding to the sense of panic and fear. Well known food
critic Sabina Sahgal Saikia, who is inside the hotel, told
NDTV on phone just now that the guests are terrified, and
unaware of just what is happening around them. It is
unclear at this point in time whether the power has been
turned off by the police as they battle the terrorists.
01:27 AM: Rediff's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel calls in from the
Marine Drive region to report that the approaches to the
South Mumbai area have been shut down, and that sounds of
firing are audible as far away as Mumbai's famed Queen's
Necklace stretch, though the source of the firing is
unclear.
Meanwhile, a foreign national who managed to escape from
the Taj Mahal Hotel, where a state of seige currently
exists, told NDTV that armed and masked gunmen were
wandering around inside the hotel, looking for people with
American or British passports.
The eyewitness account appears to confirm the growing
belief among law enforcement circles that this latest
attack is aimed directly at foreign nationals -- hence the
choice of star hotels as prime targets. They further
theorize that automatic weapons are being used rather than
bombs in order to orchestrate such targeted mayhem.
Meanwhile, the real dangers of the situation are being
exaggerated by a proliferation of rumors. One such that has
been aired on a few channels including CNN suggested that
firing was taking place at the JW Marriott, another five
star hotel in the Juhu region of suburban Mumbai. A source
in the hotel however confirmed to Rediff just now that
there was no alarm at the hotel, and no incident of any
kind had taken place.
12:44 AM: A gun battle is ongoing in the Taj Hotel in
Colaba. Within the last ten minutes, a guest at the hotel
got word out to CNN via email that a grenade had exploded
within the hotel premises just then.
Additional Commissioner of Police AN Roy and other
officials confirmed that some armed terrorists are holed up
in the iconic hotel.
Police officials said they have no information of a hostage
situation; they say guests have been sequestered in safe
areas of the hotel, and the police are now engaged in
flushing out the terrorists from their hiding place.
More at:
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/nov/26-update-terror-in-mumbai.htm?zcc=rl
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
DISCLAIMER AND CONDITIONS
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.