Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

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ramana
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Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

Please start going through the locked threads and start puting the link and text of the news stories of the attack as it developed. Also scan other sources. I hope to compile the full picture. This will be in addition to the pics thread. Any extraneous comments/snide remarks will lead to immediate ban. No warnings or mollycoddling.

Thanks,

ramana
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

Yahoo summary report

India Ends Mumbai Rampage
India ends Mumbai rampage after 60 hours, 195 dead
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By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM, Associated Press Writers – 43 mins ago

MUMBAI, India – It took just 10 young men armed with rifles and grenades to terrorize this city of 18 million and turn its postcard-perfect icons into battlefields until security forces ended one of the deadliest attacks in India's history early Saturday.

After the final siege at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel, adoring crowds surrounded six buses carrying weary, unshaven commandos dressed in black fatigues, shaking their hands and giving them flowers. One of the commandos said he had been awake for nearly 60 hours since the assault began Wednesday. Another sat sipping a bottle of water and holding a pink rose.

"What happened is disgusting," said Suresh Thakkar, 59, who reopened his clothing store behind the hotel Saturday for the first time since the attacks. "It will be harder to recover, but we will recover. Bombay people have a lot of spirit and courage."

The bloody rampage carried out by suspected Muslim militants at 10 sites across Mumbai, the nation's financial capital formerly known as Bombay, killed at least 195 people and wounded 295. Among the dead were 18 foreigners, including six Americans.

Orange flames and dark smoke engulfed the Taj Mahal after dawn Saturday as Indian forces killed the last three militants with grenades and gunfire. Hours after the fire fight, parts of the landmark hotel were in shambles, its corner facade charred black and a red carpet leading to double doors littered with broken glass.

"Suddenly no one feels safe or secure," said Joe Sequeira, the manager of a popular restaurant near the Oberoi hotel, another site targeted in the attacks. "It will take time. People are scared but they will realize it's no use being scared and sitting at home."

While soldiers scoured the massive 565-room Taj Mahal for any remaining captives and defused booby traps, a city known for its resilience in the face of tragedy began mourning and cremating its dead. At least 20 killed in the fighting were members of security forces.

A previously unknown Muslim group called Deccan Mujahideen — a name suggesting origins inside India — has claimed responsibility. But Indian officials said the sole surviving gunman, now in custody, was from Pakistan and voiced suspicions of their volatile neighbor. Nine other attackers were killed, they said.

Each new detail about the attackers raised more questions. Who trained the militants, who were so well prepared they carried bags of almonds to keep their energy up? What role, if any, did archrival Pakistan play in the attack? And how did so few assailants, who looked like college students, wreak so much damage?

Pakistan denied it was involved and demanded evidence for Indian charges. Islamabad has pledged to share intelligence with its rival neighbor but went back on its initial promise to send its spy chief to aid the probe, saying it would send a lower ranking official instead.

As officials pointed the finger at neighboring Pakistan, some Indians looked inward and expressed anger at their own government.

"People are worried, but the key difference is anger," said Rajesh Jain, chief executive officer at a brokerage firm, Pranav Securities. "People are worked up about the ineffectiveness of the administration. Does the government have the will, the ability to tackle the dangers we face?"

On Saturday, officials said they believed that just 10 gunmen had taken part in the attacks. The sole survivor, identified a Pakistani national, Mohammad Ajmal Qasam, was being interrogated, officials said.

The gunmen were as brazen as they were well trained, using sophisticated weapons, GPS technology and mobile and satellite phones to communicate, authorities said.

"They were constantly in touch with a foreign country," said R.R. Patil, deputy to the chief of Maharashtra state's chief, without giving further details.

"Whenever they were under a little bit of pressure they would hurl a grenade. They freely used grenades," said Dutt.

Suspicions in Indian media quickly settled on the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, long seen as a creation of the Pakistani intelligence service to help wage its clandestine war against India in disputed Kashmir.

A U.S. counterterrorism official said some "signatures of the attack" were consistent with Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed, another group that has operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked to al-Qaida.

U.S. officials were worried about a possible surge in violence between Pakistan and India — the nuclear armed rivals have fought three wars against each other, two over Kashmir — and were sending FBI agents to India to help investigate.

President George W. Bush pledged full U.S. support for the investigation, saying the killers "will not have the final word."

"As the people of the world's largest democracy recover from these attacks, they can count on the people of world's oldest democracy to stand by their side," Bush added in a brief address from the White House.

Indian security officers believe many of the gunmen may have reached the city using a black and yellow rubber dinghy found near the attack sites.

The Indian navy said it was investigating whether a trawler found drifting off the coast of Mumbai, with a bound corpse on board, was used in the attack.

The trawler, named Kuber, had been found Thursday and was brought to Mumbai, a peninsula surrounded by the Arabian Sea, said Navy spokesman Capt. Manohar Nambiar. Authorities suspect the boat had sailed from a port in the neighboring state of Gujarat.

The fighting narrowed to the Taj Mahal hotel on Friday night, hours after elite commandos stormed a Jewish center and found at least eight hostages dead Friday.

The bodies of New York Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah, were found at the Jewish center. Their son, Moshe, who turned 2 on Saturday, was scooped up by an employee Thursday as she fled the building. At least two Israelis and another American were also killed in the house, said Rabbi Zalman Schmotkin, a spokesman for the Chabad Lubavitch movement, which ran the center.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said eight bodies had been found in the center and officials were investigating whether there is a ninth victim.

Among the foreigners killed in the attacks were six Americans, according to the U.S. Embassy. The dead also included Germans, Canadians, Israelis and nationals from Britain, Italy, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia and Singapore.

By Saturday night the death toll was at 195, the country's deadliest attack since 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai killed 257 people. But officials said the toll from the three days of carnage was likely to rise as more bodies were brought out of the hotels.

In the southern city of Bangalore, black clad commandos formed an honor guard for the flag-draped coffin of Maj. Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who was killed in the fighting at the Taj Mahal hotel.

"He gave up his own life to save the others," said J.K. Dutt, director general of India's elite commando unit.

___

Associated Press writers Ravi Nessman, Erika Kinetz and Anita Chang contributed to this report from Mumbai, and Foster Klug and Lara Jakes Jordan contributed from Washington.
and

Mumbai attackers shoed comabt training

The Mumbai Perpetrators Showed Combat Training


By ROBERT BAER – Sat Nov 29, 12:05 am ET


Three days after the Mumbai attacks, it is unclear who is behind them. And that in itself tells a story.


Terrorism experts have been all over television and the Internet speculating on the identity of the perpetrators, more often than not attempting to divine their identity from the group's tactics. The problem is that terrorists do not follow rule books; they learn and adapt from other groups. The fact that suicide bombers did not blow themselves up in the lobbies of the Oberoi or Taj hotels does not mean they are not from al-Qaeda. (See photos of the chaos in Mumbai)

What we should be certain of, though, is that the Mumbai attackers were combat trained. You do not sustain a military assault for three days, taking only combat naps, unless you know what you are doing. You have to have been shot at before. You cannot be intimidated by flash-bang grenades, or commandos fast-roping down the side of a building. And it is almost certain that the planners of the attack understood that the only way to get into India with the amount of weapons and explosives used in the attacks was by sea - the risk of smuggling them in over land was too great.

Indulging in the same sort of speculation as the terrorism experts, I would say it's likely the attackers picked up their combat experience in Afghanistan. They could have come out of Iraq as well, but Mumbai seems a little far afield for Iraqis. Again, at this point none of this is certain. We may find out the killers were Hindu extremists, or Tamil separatists.

There are two lessons we should be taking away from Mumbai. The first is that all large cities are vulnerable to attack. Even if it doubled the size of its police force, there is no way New York City could could ever protect its hotels, schools or other public buildings from attacks of this type, short of turning them into fortresses. There is no way for the NYPD to prevent a car bombing on Wall Street, sending the stock market into an even worse plunge, or a single suicide bomber from blowing himself up in the subway. Plans are available on the Internet for making bombs like these with ingredients available in hardware stores.


The second reminder we should take from Mumbai is that the longer the wars go on in Iraq and Afghanistan, the more combat-experienced men there will be available to planners of terror attacks. And we should count on the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan going global - there is no reason they could not blend into the waves of immigrants crossing the Mediterranean from Northern Africa to Europe every day.

The best answer to the attack on Mumbai is a measured one: If it turns out the attackers came from Pakistan, they are very unlikely to have been sent by that country's government. So the last thing India should do is confront the government of Pakistan, or isolate it. That would only strengthen the hand of the extremists.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Anabhaya »

x-posting SSridhars time-line. It is best we update this with links and references.
* The training was for a period of at least 3 months in Pakistan and these are LeT operatives
* The Pakistani Maritime authorities helped in charting out routes including the return path, all crammed into their navigation equipment
* The terrorists started from a remote creek near Karachi and after a day out in the sea, were picked up by a Pakistani mothership
* the terrorists came near Porbandar where they then commandeered an Indian trawler, eliminated the fisherman and ordered the captain to take them to Sasoon Docks.
* They spent almost 4 days on this trawler, possibly waiting for some signal to reach Mumbai
* They were picked up from there by some others, possibly Indians.
* They split into at least three groups, one went to CST from where the Versace terrorist who is now spilling the beans was captured. This group also killed the ATS chief
* Some terrorists had already occupied the Taj and moved in explosives much earlier (possibly, the same happened in Oberoi but not yet confirmed)
* The corner first floor room in the Taj had been converted into the ops room by the terrorists
* The idea was to enact a 'JW Marriott' of the Taj & Trident
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

Pioneer, 2 Dec., 2008

Terrorists sailed form Karachi on MV Al Husseni
Ultras sailed from Karachi on board Pak vessel MV Al Husseni

PTI | Mumbai

Pakistani Merchant Vessel MV Al Husseni was used by the 10 Laskar-e-Taiba terrorists before they shifted to an Indian fishing boat to reach Mumbai, suggest investigators probing the terror carnage.

During interrogation, Ajmal Amin Kamal, a militant arrested during the siege, said that they had boarded Al Husseni docked at a distance from Karachi port and were to be dropped near Mumbai waters, official sources said.

Kamal, who hails from a poor family of Multan, Punjab, was caught on close circuit television as he and his associates went on a rampage on Wednesday night.

He told the investigators that they made a last minute decision to shift to the Indian shipping vessel to avoid detection by Indian Navy and Coastguard.

The Lashker terrorist said his other team members caught hold of five men on MV Kuber and then killed four of them while keeping one -- Amarsinh -- alive to drive the launch vehicle to Cuffe Parade port in Mumbai.

"Char halal ho gaye jenab (four have been killed)," was the message relayed by one of the Lashker terrorists to his masters across the border.

The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) had intercepted this message but could not make out anything of it except for reissuing the warning to Coast Guard to increase vigil, the sources claimed
Its a PTI headline. Need to tell PTI the difference between Terrorists and Ultras. Their headlines are carried unaltered in the Indian media. Please flood the PTI webiste. Thanks, ramana

Also can anyone scour the web to find pc of their vessel and its registry?
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

And

More skeletons tumble
More skeletons tumble out

Pioneer News Service | New Delhi

Govt acts busy to hide its blunders

Two days before the terrorists struck at Mumbai, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) had intercepted this chilling message: Char halal ho gaye jenab (four have been killed).” Already in possession of information about a possible attack on Mumbai by sea route, the RAW passed on this message to the Coast Guard to increase vigilance along the coast. The matter ended there. No one cared to react. Two days later, the terror boat made a safe landing at the Cuffe Parade port in Mumbai coast.

Reports said the terrorists relayed the above message to their Pakistani masters after they captured an Indian fishing vessel off the Gujarat coast and killed four of its crew. The terrorists who left Karachi in a Pakistani Merchant Vessel MV Al Husseni then shifted to the Indian fishing boat MV Kuber to reach Mumbai.

This is just one piece of input that went abegging. The terrorists were in constant touch with their ‘masters’ across the border and several of their messages were intercepted by the Indian intelligence, who passed them on to both the Centre and the Maharashtra Government. There were similar other specific inputs which intelligence officials processed and warned of an imminent attack on Mumbai. Some warnings specifically mentioned Taj and Oberoi hotels as possible targets. For once, it would be unfair to lay the blame at the door of RAW, Intelligence Bureau or National Security Adviser. {OK I give up. I am sorry.}

But no one cared to read the writing on the wall. The attack on Mumbai is a shameful saga of criminal negligence on part of the State and Central Governments. The buck does not stop with Shivraj Patil or Vilasrao Deshmukh. The entire machinery failed to act, though the Government may be busy in fixing accountability for the Mumbai attacks.

During interrogation, Ajmal Amir Kasab, the arrested terrorist, told the investigators that they made a last minute decision to shift to the Indian shipping vessel to avoid detection by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.

The Lashker terrorist said his other team members caught hold of five men on MV Kuber and then killed four of them while keeping one — Amarsinh — alive to drive the launch vehicle to Cuffe Parade port in Mumbai.

After the Mumbai attacks, the location of the call was found to be in the area where Al Husseni was sailing. The Coast Guard captured the Indian trawler MV Kuber and found a Global Positioning System abandoned on it while it was drifting nearly four nautical miles off the coast of Mumbai early on Thursday morning, several hours after the terrorist attacks began.

Investigators were going through the call data details downloaded from the satellite phone also recovered from the abandoned trawler. Many of the call details have revealed numbers that have been traced back to the Lashkar’s chief of operations, Muzamil.

If the intelligence inputs were overlooked because of scepticism and callousness of the authorities, there is little to explain their failure to react to alarming information provided by the fishermen that RDX was being smuggled by sea route to Mumbai.

The vice-president of the Fishermen’s Association in Krishnapura village of Gujarat’s Navsari district has been questioned by the security agencies after he claimed that he had alerted the Maharashtra Government about some suspicious activities in the Arabian sea.

Devabhai Bhagwatibhai Tandel has been interrogated by the security agencies, including the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), about the information he had sent to his counterpart in Mumbai, Damodhar Tandel, who later passed on the information to the Maharashtra Government.

“About four months ago, I had told Damodhar about the suspicious fishing vessels in Gujarat waters that went into Maharashtra waters for fishing. Damodhar had then written a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Mumbai Port Authority, informing them about the unusual development,” Devabhai told PTI. .

“Damodhar had written the letter in August and had also sent a copy to Fisheries Department of Maharashtra,” he added. In the letter, Damodhar had raised concerns over some of the fishing trawlers coming from Gujarat, mainly belonging to Bangladeshi fishermen settled in Gujarat.

{They must have thought he was cribbing about the BD fishermen!}

He had further stated that there was a possibility that one or two trawlers were bringing RDX to Mumbai. Damodar had requested the port authorities to stop entry of these fishing trawlers into Mumbai waters.

When asked if he was questioned by any of the security agencies, Devabhai said, “Some agencies have come and asked me questions about the suspicious activities about which I had told Damodar.”

Another shocking piece of revelation that places Maharashtra Government in the dock for the death of its top cops is the fact that they were wearing defective bullet-proof jackets.

Former IPS officer YP Singh, who quit the police department in 2005, said the vests

that were sent to him for testing sometime in 2001 were found defective.

In 2001, I tested some of these vests and found them to be substandard. I do not know if the vests from this lot were finally purchased or not,” said.

“But in 2004, another batch of vests was tested by another officer and they too were found to be defective. Most likely, the police officers who died on Wednesday night were wearing these vests,” Singh said.

The purchasing is done by the department headed by the joint commissioner of police (administration), Singh said.

“There is a big cartel operating here,” Singh, who quit after being fed up with corruption in the police force, said.

Head of Anti-Terrorist Squad Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte died when a terrorist opened fire on the vehicle they were riding on the night of November 26.

An hour before that, TV channels had shown Karkare putting on a helmet and bullet-proof vest and heading out as the first reports of terrorist attacks came in.
and

Mumbai Terrorists trained in Pakistan
Mumbai gunmen trained in Pakistan-investigators

Reuters | MUMBAI

Indian investigators said on Monday the militants who attacked Mumbai underwent months of commando training in Pakistan, raising tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours as recriminations mounted in India.

The fallout prompted a second top politician from the ruling Congress party to resign, amid growing fury at intelligence lapses many Indians believe let 10 Islamist gunmen kill 183 people and besiege India's financial capital for three days.

The attacks, which struck Mumbai's two best-known luxury hotels and other landmarks in the city of 18 million, are a major setback for improving ties between India and Pakistan.

The White House said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would visit India on Wednesday, underscoring the seriousness with which Washington viewed the attacks.

"I don't want to jump to any conclusions myself on this, but I do think that this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation and that is what we expect (from Pakistan)," Rice told reporters travelling with her to London.

She downplayed the threat of conflict between two countries, who almost came to war in 2002 after an earlier attack on India's parliament which also was blamed on Pakistani militants.

"This is a different relationship than it was a number of years ago. Obviously they share a common enemy because extremists in any form are a threat to the Pakistanis as well as the Indians," Rice said.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by fanne »

Sept 30, 20 days before Mumbai attack, LET chief was allowed to import bullet proof car. So the operation was put in motion, whenever it was put, a milestone was crossed when LET chief got that car.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1194581

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has granted permission to the chief of the Pakistan-based terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, to import a duty free bullet-proof Land Cruiser, worth Rs 25 million.

According to the interior ministry sources in Islamabad, the LeT chief, who fears a possible attempt on his life by his “external enemies”, had sought the government permission to import a duty free bullet proof Land Cruiser in view of the rising number of terrorist acts across Pakistan.

The sources said that after some lengthy deliberations on the issue, the government has decided to give him a go ahead to import a fully armoured Land Cruiser for his use from Dubai. It was for the first time that the leader of a banned jehadi group had made such a request to the government and it is also for the first time that the government has acceded to such a request.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

Yes but when did he get his b p car? Its curious fact and should have been kept in mind when those sat phone calls were intercepted.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

Please collate all those youtube videos too here.

Thanks, ramana
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

need to create a through dossier on L-e-T. its origns, aims and handiwork and tactics.

I have this sneaky suspicion that it is a irregular commando group created for non-J&K ops after end of Cold War.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Patni »

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ms ... 90981&z=14

Reposting the link to a Google map in this thread , constructed to show both locations and time lines to Pakistani terror attack on Mumbai. Please indicate if anyone is interested to collaborate in adding more details like photographs, video links etc with each spot marked in the map.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Anindya »

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1210832
Kasab says his father sent him to LeT
Somendra Sharma / DNA
Tuesday, December 02, 2008 04:14 IST

MUMBAI: Captured terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Mohammad Amir Kasab has told the police that his father asked him to join the Lashkar-e-Taiba so that he could use the money they gave him to run the family.

The 21-year-old has told the police that his father, Amir, introduced him to an LeT commander two years ago. "Kasab used to call the man chacha (uncle). Chacha was the handler of a group of 25 youths, including Kasab, who were provided special terror training. In return, chacha used to pay his father," said an officer who is part of the investigations into the attack on Mumbai.

A resident of Faridkot in Chipaalpura taluka of Ukhad zilla in Punjab (Pakistan), Kasab hails from a poor family and himself worked as a labourer before joining the LeT. His two younger sisters and parents stay in Pakistan, the police said.

According to Kasab, his father was aware of chacha's links with LeT. He says they were indoctrinated by chacha (see box) to create mayhem in India.

Out of the group of 25 trained LeT terrorists, 10 were handpicked for the Mumbai operation. "Around 45 days before the terror strike, chacha called the 10 youths and briefed them about the mission," said the official.

The militant training, Kasab told interrogators, began a year ago and camps were held in the jungles of Afghanistan and Pakistan. "In their training camps, the role of each module was specified. They were not allowed to interact with each other," said the officer.

Kasab told investigators they were given blueprints of all the four targets - Taj Hotel, Oberoi Hotel, Trident Hotel and Nariman House. They also received training in swimming and sailing, besides the use of high-end weapons and explosives.

Now that Kasab has been captured alive, he fears the worst for his family as chacha had given strict instructions that they should not return alive at any cost.

Kasab has told the police that he didn't know driving. His associate Abu Ismail Dera Ismail Khan, 25, drove the Skoda car they used for the get-away after the police vehicle they seized after killing ATS chief Hemant Karkare broke down.

When their Skoda neared Girgaum chowpatty, they ran into a police barricade. Ismail Khan succumbed in the ensuing exchange of fire and Kasab got injured in the hand. He was taken to Nair Hospital where he has been kept under heavy police protection.

Indoctrination programme
During training, the suspected terrorists were told that Mohammed Afzal alias Afzal Guru, convicted for his involvement in the December 2001 Parliament attack, had been hanged to death in India. Afzal Guru, an LeT operative, was sentenced to death in 2004, but his execution has been stayed pending a clemency plea. He is currently in Tihar jail. The indoctrination also used the controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by SaiK »

'Terrorists planned to kill 5000 people'
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/nov/26- ... mumbai.htm
November 26, 2008 22:40 IST
Last Updated: November 29, 2008 17:08 IST


04:48 PM: Terrorists had plans to kill at least 5,000 people, said Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil. Two boxes containing eight kg RDX each have been found near Taj hotel, he added.

04:37 PM: Missing journalist Sabina Sakia found dead at the devastated sixth floor of Taj Hotel.

03:55 PM: Sixth grenade defused at Taj Hotel. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh says 18 foreigners and 16 security personnel, including two NSG men have been killed in Mumbai terror attacks.

01:57 PM: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] holds meeting with top brass of defence services and intelligence chiefs to discuss Mumbai attacks

01:40 PM: No indication of our staff involved in terrorist attack, says Taj Hotel. Meanwhile, 3 of the 8 live bombs found in the hotel have been defused.

12:53 PM: 8 live grenades have been found in Taj Hotel. They are being defused.

11:44 AM: NSG sources say, none of the hostages survived.

10:39 AM: NSG teams sanitising the Taj have found bodies of three terrorists in the first and ground floors of the hotel. They are on the look out for bodies of two more terrorists. Meanwhile, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata has arrived at Taj Hotel. He was seen taking stock of the situation.

09:04 AM: NSG Director General J K Dutt says the 62-hour siege of Taj Hotel is almost over. 3 terrorists have been killed in the Taj operation. Taj has been reclaimed but unless a thorough search is conducted, we would not hand over the hotel to the police, the NSG chief said. Search is on for a number of hostages and guests who could possibly be holed up in the hotel. The final body count can be taken up after the sanitation process has been completed.

08:46 AM: The operation at Hotel Taj Mahal is finally over, according to Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor.

He said that security forces had killed both the terrorists holed up inside the hotel.

However, NSG sources said that while one terrorist had been killed during the gunfight, security forces are looking for the second terrorist inside the hotel.

08:36 AM: The fire on the ground floor and first floor of Hotel Taj has been reportedly brought under control. Fire engines and ambulances have moved in near the hotel.

Some TV channels aired the footage of a terrorist falling out of a window on the second floor of the heritage building.

One of the terrorists inside the hotel has been killed, claims NSG. The security forces are looking for the rest of the terrorists.

08:08 AM: The ground floor and first floor of Taj Mahal Hotel [Images] are on fire, after a massive explosion. Smoke is billowing from the windows of the hotel.

Media personnel have been asked to retreat as the gunbattle inside the hotel intensifies.

07:35 AM: Loud explosions and sounds of heavy gunfire can be heard from inside Hotel Taj Mahal.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the NSG men have managed to corner the terrorists on the first floor.

Security agencies say that this is the final part of the operation and it is only a matter of time before the hotel is cleared up.

06:00 AM: Snipers have taken position at Hotel Taj, as security forces launched the final assault to flush out the three terrorists holed up inside the heritage building.

04:12 AM: The gunfight between security forces and terrorists has resumed on the first floor of the Taj Mahal Hotel.

03:14 AM: There has been a long lull in the firing inside Hotel Taj Mahal. NSG sources say that the operation may continue till the wee hours of the morning.

Two to three terrorists may be holed up inside the hotel, according to a senior NSG official.

11:42 PM: The operation at the Taj Hotel, which continues to be under siege, has intensified. Twenty NSG commandos have reportedly entered the hotel for the final assault.

10:17 PM: The operation at Nariman House is finally over, according to the NSG. Five hostages and two terrorists have been found dead inside the building.

08:16 PM: An army man at Nariman House informed that all the terrorists have been killed and all the hostages are feared dead. But the security forces are not sure about the death toll, and the operation is not officially over. They commandos are yet to clear the third floor.

07:05 PM: Five people at the Nariman House had been killed by terrorists, confirmed NSG. The third floor is yet to be captured. Meanwhile, three officials from the US consulate are on the spot to take stock of the situation.

06:40PM: The commandos have blown out a window on the fourth floor of Nariman House and have blasted a huge hole through the wall on the first floor. The operation has now really intensified. Through the punched-out hole in the wall, one can see the commandos moving down the stairs from 4th floor onwards.

04:54 PM: Heavy firing is on at the second floor of Taj Mahal hotel. The firing is going on in a corner room, facing the Gateway of India. It is learnt that a foreign journalist was hit in the knee while a bystander, outside the hotel, was shot in the back. Reports say the bullets may have ricocheted during the cross-fire. The media has been asked to move back as precaution.

04:50 PM: Commandos in Nariman House have been systematically attacking floors. A rocket-propelled grenade went off with a big bang and flash. For a while, there was fire on the other side of the building. Commandos are on the roof. They are also firing from the outside.

04:30 PM: Terrorists holed up inside the Nariman House are exchanging fire with NSG Commandos. The commandos are receiving fire from the ground floor and second floor of the building.

04:22 PM: Fifteen policemen and two NSG personnel have lost their lives in anti-terror operations, says Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil.

04:07 PM: NSG officer Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan shot dead in operation against terrorists at Taj hotel in Mumbai.

04:00 PM: Actor Ashish Chowdhury's sister, who was among those trapped in the Trident Hotel standoff, dies in the hotel.

03:37 PM: Multiple grenade blasts at Taj Hotel. One terrorist is being engaged by NSG commandos at the Hotel, says Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor.

03:05 PM: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asks his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani [Images] to send ISI chief to Delhi [Images] to share information on Mumbai terror attacks, says Gilani's spokesman.

03:04 PM: Huge explosion rocks Taj Hotel. Prior to this, constant exchange of fire was going on. Unconfirmed reports said a person was rescued and taken in an ambulance from the hotel lobby.

02:25 PM: NSG Commandos make progress in flushing out terrorists at Nariman House. They have cleared 4th and 5th floors of the building. They are scaling down the outside wall to reach to terrorists holed up in the 3rd floor.

02:30 PM: Trident Hotel has been cleared. Two terrorists have been killed and all guests have been rescued, says NSG official. Two AK-47 rifles, one pistol and few unexploded grenades seized.

01:45 PM: Television black out in may parts of the metropolis.

01:18 PM: The railway authorities on Friday denied that there was any new incident of firing at the Chatrapathi Shivaji railway terminus in Mumbai. "There was no firing at Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus. The reports of firing at CST are nothing but rumours," Commissioner (Railway Safety) A K Sharma told reporters. Sources said a metal detector fell at the entrance with a huge thud causing the panic.

01:04 PM: Fourth and fifth floors of Nariman House cleared, military sources said, adding that one terrorist may be holed up on the third floor.

01:00 PM: Terrorist attacks show Al-Qaeda [Images] links, IB sources said, adding, that the links would not just stretch up to pak, but will go beyond

12:57 PM: Reinforcements brought to Taj Hotel. Terrorists were aware of Taj layout, say Marine Commandos. The terrorists had AK series rifle. What made MARCOS' progress difficult was the presence of many guests. Plastic explosives and 8 credit cards were recovered from the terrorists' possession. All recovered items have been handed over to the police. The marines have recovered 30 bodies from one of the halls of the hotel. Close to 200 guests were held hostage in one of the halls. A Mauritius national ID card recovered from one terrorist's bag. Currency worth $1,200 was recovered from terrorists.

12:55 PM: Trident Hotel is 'totally clear' and the Oberoi section is 'almost clear', says Vilasrao Deshmukh.

11:48 AM: Heavy gunfire and grenade explosions have been reported from the Taj Hotel. Media has been asked to stop broadcast for it is believed that terrorists holed up inside are getting access to the security forces' movement.

11:29 AM: About 8 to 9 commandos have entered Prem Bhawan, near Nariman House, with two cartons of supplies. Heavy gunfire has resumed.

11:00 AM: Army Commander LT Gen N Thamburaj says the new Taj Hotel building has been totally sanitised and handed over to the police. One confirmed terrorist left in the old Taj building. He says the terrorist has knocked out the lights in two floors and is on the move constantly. The NSG has established contact with this terrorist. The army is confident that operations at the old Taj Hotel building will come to an end in a couple of hours.

10:39 AM: About 30 hostages, mostly foreigners, have been rescued from Trident Hotel. They are being escorted to a bus stationed near the Air India building [Images].

10:00 AM: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [Images] addresses media persons outside the Triden Hotel. He said his government would give Rs one crore to the Maharashtra government to be dispersed to the kin of the deceased in the multiple terror attacks in Mumbai.

09:15 AM: Gun battle is still on at Taj Hotel. Two terrorists with 25 hostages are believed to be still holed up inside the hotel.

08:36 AM: A helicopter has been seen circling the Trident Hotel. It is believed that commandos may be pushing for a final assault on terrorists holed up inside the hotel.

08:25 AM: Another grenade blast heard on the fourth floor of Nariman House. NSG commando injured in gunbattle.

08:20 AM: Heavy gunfire can be heard from Nariman House. Ambulances have beeen positioned closer to the building. Fire brigade personnel are present on the scene too.

08:11 AM: Helicopters make Nariman House look like a war zone. Routes have been cleared for ambulances.

08:10 AM: Five commandos have landed in choppers atop Nariman house, and opened fire. Two to three terrorists are believed to be holed up in the building.

Sources say that a man can be seen on the seventh floor of the Oberoi wing of Hotel Trident. He can be seen talking on his mobile phone and dropping something from the balcony. Army men, who have surrounded the hotel, have moved in.

One NSG commando has been seriously injured in Taj Hotel, informed Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor.

07:48 AM: Another explosion has reportedly taken place at Nariman House.

The area near Hotel Trident is bustling with activity. Four trucks with over 50 NSG commandos have left the hotel complex.

Speakers are being mounted near Air India building, and the names of the victims killed in Hotel Trident would be announced soon. Relatives of both hostages and victims have started gathering near Hotel Trident.

05:10 AM: Civilians are still trapped inside Hotel Taj, according to the latest reports. However, the number of civilians is not yet known.

Things have quietened down at the Hotel Taj, Hotel Trident and Nariman House. Sources say that the offensive by security personnel has been halted for the time being and will be resumed in the morning.

03:15 AM: Two explosions have taken place at Nariman House. Three terrorists are suspected to be hiding inside the building.

The power supply to Nariman House has been cut off.

02:04 AM: Six to eight men of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, wearing bullet-proof vests, have entered Hotel Trident from the side of the Air India building. Personnel from the Army, NSG and RAF have already entered the hotel.

Only one terrorist is still holed up at the Taj Hotel, claim NSG sources.

12:52 AM: Fresh firing has erupted at Taj Mahal Hotel, where the terrorists and the security personnel exchanged three rounds of gunfire in the last 15 minutes.

All the buildings near Nariman House are being evacuated. The residents of nearby buildings are being evacuated by the police and RAF personnel.

12:11 AM: Security personnel and terrorists have reportedly started exchanging gunfire at the Nariman House. Seven hostages have been rescued from the building.

Firing has resumed at Taj Mahal Hotel, according to reports.

11: 37 PM: Residents staying in buildings near the Nariman House have been asked to evacuate. Some members of the local Shiv Sena unit have also reached the spot.

10:55 PM: NSG personnel have taken positions outside Hotel Trident in Nariman Point, on the road between NCPA and the hotel.

An army truck with over 20 commandos has stationed itself near Hotel Trident.

Low-intensity gunshots can also be heard from inside the hotel.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rushed to Mumbai and is visiting the injured victims at JJ Hospital.

10:24 PM: The death toll in the Mumbai terror attacks has reportedly crossed 125.

Another explosion has taken place in the first floor of the old building of the Taj Hotel and several rounds of gunfire have been heard.

Columns of Army personnel are marching into Hotel Trident.

Military personnel have taken positions around the hotel

09:42 PM: Firing has started again at Trident Hotel, after a lull of 30 minutes.

A senior official from the Israeli Consulate has arrived at the Nariman House, where two Israeli families are being held hostage. However, he refuses to divulge much information about the hostage situation.

The authorities say that the situation at Nariman House will be tackled only after the hostage crises in Hotel Trident and Taj Hotel come under control.

09:10 PM: Five more foreigners have been evacuated from Hotel Trident.

The operation at Hotel Taj is reportedly over. All terrorists at Taj Hotel have been killed by the security personnel. The situation is under control

At Nariman House, commandos have started entering the building as the offensive against the terrorists escalates.

08:30 PM: Vicky Nanjappa reports from the Taj Hotel that massive explosions are taking place inside the hotel.

A major fire has broken out at the Trident Hotel. The 13th and 14th floors of the hotel are on fire.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has left for Mumbai, in the wake of the terror attack.

The ongoing operations against terrorists in three places were in their final stages and would be over soon, says Maharashtra Director General of Police A N Roy.

Major General R K Hooda, General Officer Commanding, Maharashtra area, said that the Army and other security agencies had completed the first round of room-to-room combing at the Taj Mahal Hotel. But he said the operation was not yet over and there may still be terrorists holed up inside the hotel.

A huge convoy of army trucks has reached Nariman House. A BEST van can also be seen in the vicinity, and it might be there to cut off the power supply to the building. Two Israeli families have been reportedly held hostage in Nariman House.

08:00 PM: The Taj Hotel's General Manager's wife and three children have been reportedly killed in the attack.

The locals are distributing biscuits to the security personnel deployed at the Nariman House. An ambulance, from Saifee Hospital, is distributing water.

The chief of the Special Action Group has arrived.

07:49 PM: This road in the heart of Mumbai's tourist district looks worse than a scene from Kashmir. The range of forces here is incredible. The deployed personnel are from the NSG, RAF and Black Cats, apart from the city's police.

The city hadn't witnessed such a tight security blanket even during the infamous Mumbai riots.

Major General Hooda has reached Nariman point.

06:07 PM: 70 more people have been evacuated from Trident.

05:57 PM: Railway Additional DGP K P Raghuvanshi has been given temporary charge of ATS following Hemant Karkare's [Images] killing in Mumbai terror attacks, says Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil.

05:45 PM: Lashkar-e-Tayiba has denied involvement in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Death toll in Mumbai terror attacks 101; 288 injured, six of them critically, says Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

05:31 PM: Commandos are in NCPA apartments across the road from Trident hotel, and firing at the terrorists, police officers said.

05: 26 PM: Gunshots have been heard from inside Oberoi hotel where terrorists are holding around 35 people hostage.

05:08 PM: IAF keeps seven transport aircraft and one VVIP aircraft on standby in Delhi for airlifting troops and leaders at short notice.

05:05 PM: Grenade sound could be heard from Nariman House building. The residents of Prem Bhavan, next door, have moved out. Nariman House area wears a deserted look.

04:55 PM: About 18 to 20 rounds of gunfire has been reported from Trident Hotel.

04:45 PM: Lot more commandos have arrived outside Nariman House. A team of commandos is scaling the building. Helicopters overhead are providing cover.

04:25 PM: Loud explosion has been heard outside Taj Hotel.

03:54 PM: Third grenade blast has been reported from the Trident Hotel (Oberoi).

03:15 PM: Two grenade blasts have been heard from Trident hotel.

02:54 PM: Grenade blast has been reported from Nariman House in south Mumbai, where six terrorists are holed up. One terrorist had been gunned down earlier.

02:33 PM: Navy helicopters are chasing a Vietnamese registered ship, MV Alpha, which is believed to have dropped terrorists near Bombay. Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta is closely monitoring the situation.

02:10 PM: Our correspondent Krishnakumar K reports that the first 4 floors of the six-storeyed Taj Hotel have been sanitised. Forty bodies have been recovered so far. NSG sources add that four fidayeen (suicide bombers) have been killed in the final assault.

01:50 PM: Director General of Police A N Roy says all people trapped inside Taj Hotel have been rescued and the hostage situation is over. "No negotiations with the terrorists. Either we will kill them or nab them alive," says Roy. Meanwhile, an National Security Guard spokesman says 200 more NSG commandos were being rushed to Mumbai.

01:13 PM: Trident Hotel (formerly Oberoi), has said that it is under the control of police and security forces, and they are monitoring the situation in wake of the terrorist strike.

01:23 PM: Handgrenades lobbed from Oberoi Hotel in south Mumbai where terrorists are holed up.

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 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 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, sits in rumpled attire on the parapet of Marine Drive [Images], 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.

Reportage by: Vaihayasi Daniel, Krishnakumar, Prasanna Zore, Syed Firdaus Ashraf, Uttam Ghosh, Sanjay Sawant, Satish Bodas.
Additional reportage: PTI/UNI
adityaS
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 60
Joined: 29 Nov 2008 22:21

Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by adityaS »

Reposting the NYT timeline of the Mumbai attacks here:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008 ... ic.html?hp
svinayak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 14223
Joined: 09 Feb 1999 12:31

Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by svinayak »

Patni wrote:http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ms ... 90981&z=14

Reposting the link to a Google map in this thread , constructed to show both locations and time lines to Pakistani terror attack on Mumbai. Please indicate if anyone is interested to collaborate in adding more details like photographs, video links etc with each spot marked in the map.
Can you make a jpeg file and post it here. There is WSJ map also. Take a look at it.

We need a site for all these info.
Raju

Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Raju »

Yesterday, Ayaz Amir was saying on CNBC interview with Karan Thapar that LeT from Muridke Central has kind of chaps who would not be able to find their way around Islamisbad than have the wherewithal to read maps and to know the Taj Hotel like the back of their hand and appear to be polished and speak fluent English as the Mumbai terrorists did.

Again the jihadis that operate in Kashmir and hail from cross border do not have any of the capabilities the Mumbai jihadis had.

It seems these well-trained jihadis have just sprouted from thin air and are succeeding to capitalize on the inherent distrust of muslims and legacy of Islam in India. I have a feeling that if it were not Islam but Christianity that was the bugbear in India, these guys might well have turned out to be Christians. In short, horses for courses.
Raju

Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Raju »

FOXNews.com - Pakistan-Based Terrorists Suspected in Mumbai Attack ...
28 Nov 2008 ... Pakistan-Based Terrorists Suspected in Mumbai Attack, ... reported early Saturday that three of the captured terrorists have confessed to ...

Mumbai attack: British men 'among the terrorists' - World
Two British men were among the 8 captured terrorists in Mumbai. The Telegraph reported: Two British-born Pakistanis were among eight gunmen seized by Indian ...

28 Nov 2008 ... The Indian police denied reports that two of the terrorists who had been captured were British. Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 249754.ece

27 Nov 2008 ... Another, unconfirmed news report, identified a captured terrorist as Ismail Zakiruallah, a Pakistani from Fardikot in the Pakistan's Punjab ...
http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/ontari ... id=1001739 - 49k -

BREAKING!! Mumbai Attacks Claimed by 50-60 Islamic Terrorists of ...
28 Nov 2008 ... Mumbai Attacks Claimed by 50-60 Islamic Terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba ... three of the captured terrorists who perpetrated the attack have ...
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum ... 674619/pg1

Two terrorists captured are British nationals: Reports- Hindustan ...
28 Nov 2008 ... Two terrorists captured are British nationals: Reports ... are now on their way to Mumbai to assist the Indian intelligence officers. ...
http://www.hindustantimes.com/redir.asp ... 43f8-98a5- b6a102eb8808

Gateway Pundit: MUMBAI MASSACRE-- Up To 7 Terrorists Were Brits ...
28 Nov 2008 ... Smoke rises from the Taj Hotel in Mumbai November 27, 2008. (Arko Datta/Reuters) Two British men were among the 8 captured terrorists in Mumbai. ...
gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/11/british-men-were-among-8- captured.html

28 Nov 2008 ... Mumbai battle to flush out terrorists continues11-28-08
3:38 AM EST ... The Hindu newspaper reported that three terrorists captured ...

http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/Vie ... ticle=/DJ/ 200811280338DOWJONESDJONLINE000406_univ.xml

Two British Men Were Among The 8 Captured Terrorists In Mumbai.

The London Telegraph

Two British-born Pakistanis were among eight gunmen seized by Indian
commandos
who stormed buildings to free hostages, Vilasrao Deshmukh, the
chief minister of Mumbai, reportedly said.

The Foreign Office earlier said it was investigating reports on NDTV, a
local television news channel, that the terrorists - who swarmed luxury
hotels and other tourist sites in the city - included "British citizens of Pakistani origin".

http://hotfeeder.com/us/ british_men_were_among_the_8_captured_mumbai_terrorists_717723

Hindu newspaper reported early Saturday that three of the captured
terrorists have confessed to being members of Lashkar-e-Taiba
, with one
of the suspects allegedly from Pakistan's Peshawar area, and local media
report that one of the captured gunmen was identified as Abu Ismail from Faridkot, Pakistan.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,458924,00.html

At least two of the captured terrorists were of British Pakistani origin, India's Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-wo ... 008/11/28/ terrorists-captured-but-mumbai-gun-battles-continue-86908-20932350/

Mumbai -- While the fire breaks out again at Taj hotel. The Mumbai police claims that NSG (National Security Guard) has arrested one of the
terrorist. The terrorist has been identified as Abu Ismail from Faridkot, Pakistan.

http://www.headlinesindia.com/burning-i ... orism/one- terrorist-caught-at-trident-hotel-mumbai-police-3941.html

29 Nov 2008 ... The bloody battle for Mumbai looked set to enter a third
day today as ... At least two of the captured terrorists were of British Pakistani ...

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Mum ... ng-goes-on. 4744489.jp

28 Nov 2008 ... Two terrorists captured are British nationals: Reports ... are now on their way to Mumbai to assist the Indian intelligence officers. ...

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage ... yPage.aspx? id=2e424b81-7858-43f8-98a5- b6a102eb8808Mumbaiunderattack_Special&MatchID1=4858&TeamID1=1&TeamID2= 5&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1224&PrimaryID=4858&Headline=Two+terrorists +captured+are+British+nationals%3a+Reports
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by svinayak »

UK not to get embarrassed has told GOI to change story to only Pak based terrorist.

THey want to crack the network which has escaped their web which they had laid together with Uncle boys in Taj.

THey were supposed to get the real info of the landing and attack which the desh authorities were supposed to act swiflty. Desh people were waiting for the attack on the basis of the info to be relayed. But this group jumped the gun on the orders of somebody.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ajay_hk »

Source: NDTV

Image
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by VRaghav »

Mumbai Terror Attacks on Forum on KQED Public Radio

I love Prof. Ganguly - he waxes eloquent with crystal clear clarity of thought.

http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R812010900
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Singha »

so who set off the blast in "wadi bunder" (mazgaon dock nearby?) and
way up in Ville parle? nobody has even delved into this in the media.
did they set the blasts and escape? or left behind bombs in the taxis
used to ferry them to chabad house, taj and oberoi?
Raju

Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Raju »

>> Desh people were waiting for the attack on the basis of the info to be relayed. But this group jumped the gun on the orders of somebody.

they have pulled a quick one.
this is what they mean by terror co-operation perhaps.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

the Ville Parle incident wasnt that the one the taxi driver took the long way instead of the normalshortcut being new to the route?

Acharya, Thats an interesting connect the dots.
However what happened to all those eight suspects in custody stories that Raju posted?

need to fit an alterante story that connects the dots. Were Indians patsies?
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Singha »

looking at timeline it doesnt seem possible that any of the pigs in south
were involved in the ville parle blast (9:55pm)

maybe a group of them decamped into a safe house in that region and
left behind this small bomb, or went unarmed and took a flight from mumbai to somewhere, to prepare for another mission.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

Was looking for this type to remind teh scum what happens to them. No jannat.
madhum wrote:Picture of a dead vermin (killed at Nariman house)

* Removed the picture as it was pointing to unconnected persons *
Last edited by SSridhar on 19 Oct 2009 13:53, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Edited
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Raju »

Locals say the orgy of killings in Mumbai began here. Three men walked into the cafe, drank beer, settled their bills and walked out. Then they fished out guns from their bags and began firing.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7752625.stm


“The role that Nariman House is coming to play in this entire attack drama is puzzling. Last night, residents ordered close to 100 kilograms of meat and other food, enough to feed an army or a bunch of people for twenty days. Shortly thereafter, the ten odd militants moved in, obviously, indicating that the food and meat was ordered, keeping their visit in mind, another cop added.

“One of the militants called up a television news channel and voiced his demands today, but, interestingly, when he was asked where are they all holed him, he said at the Israeli owned Nariman House and they are six of them here", one of the investigating cops said. Since morning, there has been exchange of gun fire has been going on and the militants seem well equipped to counter the cops fire. To top it, they have food and shelter. One wonders [if] they have the support of the residents, a local Ramrao Shanker said.”

http://www.countercurrents.org/sikand291108.htm

• CNN's sister network in India, CNN-IBN, quoted police sources as saying there were about 26 gunmen.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiap ... =hpmostpop
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by shyam »

^^^ Large quantity of food for Nariman house
They might have been hoping for a hostage negotiation.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Rahul M »

ramana wrote:need to create a through dossier on L-e-T. its origns, aims and handiwork and tactics.

I have this sneaky suspicion that it is a irregular commando group created for non-J&K ops after end of Cold War.

The Ideologies of South Asian Jihadi Groups (Laskar-e-Taiba)

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140676/posts

I searched for this article from the referrence given in "Jihad's true face" article.

guess who the author is ?
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Lalmohan »

shyam wrote:^^^ Large quantity of food for Nariman house
They might have been hoping for a hostage negotiation.
no, the rabbi used to order large amounts of chicken to feed jewish travellers, its reported in other threads

also, the 'hostages' had been killed pretty early on - baby moishe was brought out the day before commando's absailed in - he was found next to his dead parents according to the nanny. which also means the little guy saw his parents tortured and killed

thank whoever you belive in upstairs that he is too little to know
:evil: :evil: :evil:
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Patni »

Singha wrote:so who set off the blast in "wadi bunder" (mazgaon dock nearby?) and
way up in Ville parle? nobody has even delved into this in the media.
did they set the blasts and escape? or left behind bombs in the taxis
used to ferry them to chabad house, taj and oberoi?
Both Mazgoan and Parle blasts were random spots. The bomb was planted in taxi without the knowledge of the drivers by paki terrorists while riding in south bombay, and they were then hired by innocent public. One taxi was on way to kandivali and another to Mazgoan. I researched it and posted the links as well as details on terror attack thread. It was moving too fast and most members seem to have missed it completely. I X-post them back here if its ok with Mods. The google map that i have created has all this details including the name of victims who hired those taxis from south bombay.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Patni »

X-posting from other thread. And including the full articles so as to preserve the details and timing of posting on web.

Post subject: Re: Terror Attacks in Mumbai - III
PostPosted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 10:34 am
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Have The Google Map "Trail of Terror by Pakistani Terrorists In Mumbai" Updated with location of two taxi blasts and as accurate a timing as i can construct myself from available web sources. I am thinking that the taxis when blew up were being used by innocent Mumbai citizens (Confirmed in case of Mazgoan blast).

http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20081129/10 ... ipe-o.html

Mazgaon residents struggle to wipe out memory of burnt flesh, severed heads

Sat, Nov 29 02:55 AM

Two-year-old Kunal Maske can't express himself in words, but every time his mother points to the street below his house, he raises his chubby arms, screams "bhoom" and then covers his ears with his palms. On Wednesday night, Kunal's mother, Pallavi, had carried him to the balcony outside their one-room home on the fourth floor of Ekta Nagar chawl building in Mazgaon to let him watch cars while she fed him dinner, when a taxi suddenly burst into flames before an explosion blew it into smithereens.

That night, Kunal didn't sleep. "Even though I ducked into the house immediately to escape the shower of glass and metal particles, Kunal saw the explosion.

He was crying constantly and kept peeing through the night," said Pallavi. Twelve-year-old Manoj Maru, who lives next door, has been sleeping fitfully, too.

"I had a terrible nightmare. I came across the terrorists and hit them with a bamboo stick so they shot me dead," said the Class 7 student.

Maru had been watching television news of the attack when he heard the noise. He ran out and found chunks of burnt flesh stuck to their doors.

"Someone's small intestine was lying on the floor, too," he said. The police may have collected all the pieces of flesh from the terrace and balconies in packets and taken them away, but the residents of Ekta Nagar's building No.

8 can't wipe out the stains or the memory of Wednesday night. Their homes have broken glass panes and clocks that are stuck at 10.36 pm - the time of the explosion.

They can still see the spot near the railway tracks, a few hundred metres away, where the taxi driver's severed head was found. Two residents of the building - Shaibaz Shah and Sabira Khan - and are currently admitted at JJ Hospital.

While a piece of metal piece had got stuck in 22-year-old Shah's throat, Khan, who was in the taxi behind the one that exploded, has a broken leg. At a cluster of shanties opposite Ekta Nagar, families of fishermen and daily wage labourers were mourning the loss of four people - three women and a child - who were killed in the blast on Wednesday night.

Zarina Shaikh and her daughter Reema had returned home from Null Bazaar in the taxi which had the bomb. "They had paid the taxi driver and were about to enter their home when the bomb exploded," said Reshma, Shaikh's elder daughter.

A resident recounted that late ATS chief Hemant Karkare had come for a round in their building before he went to Cama Hospital, where he was killed. "He got a call informing him of an emergency so he ran," said Tausif Ghalte.



Does anyone has any idea if the unfortunate occupants of taxi that blew up near domestic airport has been identified?

And another one :

Post subject: Re: Terror Attacks in Mumbai - III
PostPosted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 10:54 am
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Found details about the taxi blast near airport.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cops ... 766754.cms

Cops clueless about Vile Parle taxi blast
28 Nov 2008, 0127 hrs IST, Chinmayi Shalya & Vijay V Singh, TNN

MUMBAI: Witnesses and police officials did not know whether to make a criminal or a martyr out of the mangled body, which lay at the Cooper
Hospital morgue and was what remained of the driver of a taxi that exploded on Western Express Highway on Wednesday night.

The cab, which exploded not very far from the airport, claimed the lives of two - the cab driver and a passenger - and left two others injured.

The clues that the cops could have found handy were lost in the blast; parts of the taxi landed almost 300 metres away after the blast and the licence plate and the registration number were lost forever.

Traffic officials and people present on the spot said the cab driver had broken the traffic signal on the highway seconds before the bomb went off. "All other vehicles stopped at the signal but the cab went ahead only to explode into a cloud of smoke and fire a couple of seconds later,'' a resident of Sambhaji Nagar, located right opposite the site of the blast, said.

"We are left wondering if he was carrying a bomb on his own or was an angel who took the cab ahead to save those waiting at the traffic signal,'' he added.

Officials said it was extremely difficult to identify the cab driver, whose body was completely torn to pieces. The passenger seated in the cab was found to be a Hyderabad-based advocate, who was in the city to fight a case.
The 57-year-old advocate, Laxminarayan Goyal, was on his way to Victoria Terminus to catch a train back home when he heard of the firing in South Mumbai. So, postponing his journey, Goyal took the cab back back to his relative's place in Kandivli. "He was in touch with us till Dadar but then lost contact with him. We thought he was probably stuck somewhere because of the disturbances,'' Drishti Kedia, Goyal's daughter, said. "We could identify him by his clothes and some portions of his face,'' she added. Many of Goyal's friends, some of whom lived in Vile Parle, heard the explosion but they could scarce believe that it took his life as well.

Witnesses said the explosion was so powerful that it shrouded the vicinity in dust for more than 20 minutes. Police officials had a hard time putting the cab driver's body together. "His head was found behind the Golden Swan Hotel opposite the explosion site. We could put the body together only after 2 am,'' Cooper medical officer Pramod Nagarkar said.

The injured were in a state of daze. "I told my friend that I could not tell whether my right hand was still there. Moments later I realised that it was bleeding profusely,'' 35-year-old Shyam Sundar Choudhary, a worker in a biscuit factory, said.

The blast prompted a security beef-up at Hotel J W Marriott and extra nakabandi on the streets in the western suburbs.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Lalmohan »

judging by the pics on the blown up taxis - perhaps this was what the 8kgs of RDX that we've heard about were for? perhaps some of the other teams didn't manage to get a taxi and walked with their RDX materials
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Patni »

Acharya wrote:
Patni wrote: LINK

Reposting the link to a Google map in this thread , constructed to show both locations and time lines to Pakistani terror attack on Mumbai. Please indicate if anyone is interested to collaborate in adding more details like photographs, video links etc with each spot marked in the map.
Can you make a jpeg file and post it here. There is WSJ map also. Take a look at it.

We need a site for all these info.



OK have made the jpeg file but it cant be interactive like google map is. Also I cant seem to insert picture in message here? Can only attach a link to one on a web server?
I have researched time lines from multiple sources on web as well as first hand account from friends and relatives. Had also requested all members to leave a comments on google map to add details and improve by making it a collaborative effort. Any one that wants to be able to edit the details and make changes/ addition is welcome to send me email address on which i can send collaborative invites.
Last edited by ramana on 03 Dec 2008 01:20, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Edited link to reduce page width-ramana
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by svinayak »

Patni wrote:
Acharya wrote: Can you make a jpeg file and post it here. There is WSJ map also. Take a look at it.

We need a site for all these info.



OK have made the jpeg file but it cant be interactive like google map is. Also I cant seem to insert picture in message here? Can only attach a link to one on a web server?
I have researched time lines from multiple sources on web as well as first hand account from friends and relatives. Had also requested all members to leave a comments on google map to add details and improve by making it a collaborative effort. Any one that wants to be able to edit the details and make changes/ addition is welcome to send me email address on which i can send collaborative invites.
Use the [Img] button to post image/jpeg

Make several version of the map with different path and progress of the attack.

Dont crowd too many info in the same map
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Patni »

Image

Trail of Terror by Pakistani Terrorists In Mumbai.
Showing the path taken by Pakistani Terrorists on 26th Nov. 2008 in Mumbai. They killed hundreds of innocent people.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by svinayak »

Zoom in more into the map
Use satellite version
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

Thanks Patni for the closure on the taxi stories. So they were really 10-2 = 8 attacks where the terrorists were invovled directly and they are all in the South Mumbai area. The taxis were gratitous mayhem by the terrorists.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

I wish someone could make a flow diagram of the This Pioneer story to show the flow of info as leaked to the newspaper. I think there is a deep disconnect that is being told but without the diagram cant make sense. It will end in the end of those whom the stories were to bolster.
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by Lalmohan »

assuming the 10 man theory: i would think 5 x 2 man teams split up and catch taxis to their first target, leave time bombs in taxis - atleast 3 do so, other 2 teams fail for whatever reason. they go to first attack point, do what they can and then walk to the hotels. possibly 6 for taj 4 for oberoi. miss piggy failed to make the 2nd drop - maybe got cold feet and ran? rest hole up in the hotels and wait for 72. i have no doubt that large quantities of drugs must have been taken - amphetamines, analgesics...

has the corpse in the suitcase found today been linked to the piglets yet?

cctv of CST attack i saw today - atleast one 'pandu' deserves a vir chakra
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Re: Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

Post by ramana »

PTI reports:
Arrested terrorist admits to be a Pakistani: Mumbai police

PTI | Mumbai

All the 10 terrorists, suspected to have been involved in the Mumbai attacks, were trained by ex-army personnel even as the lone arrested terrorist has admitted to being a Pakistani, the police on Tuesday said.

Ajmal Amin Kamal, the only terrorist of the group of ten caught alive, has admitted he is a Pakistani and hailed from the Punjab province of Pakistan, Mumbai Police
Commissioner Hasan Gafoor said.

"The group of ten had come from Karachi by ship, flew an SOS flag in international waters and then hijacked a trawler which they used to come near Mumbai's shores," Gafoor said.

The group of ten had been trained by former army personnel, some for over a year, Gafoor said, refusing to comment on the nationality of the army personnel.

When asked if there was any evidence of Pakistan's involvement in the attacks, Gafoor said, "At the moment investigations are on and if we have proof we shall present it."

He said there was no evidence of local persons involved in the attacks.

After landing in Mumbai, the terrorists broke into five pairs and went to their assigned places in taxis.

The police have also said the two blasts which took place in taxis on November 26 night were due to bombs placed by the terrorists.

"Every group had a bomb with them and two of them had kept them in taxis, one which exploded in Vile Parle and the other which exploded in Dockyard Road," Gafoor said.
And add to that the two bombs defused by the Bomb Squad. So there is one that exploded or is still missing.
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