MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Jagan
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Jagan »

folks , I moved the terrorist photo discussion to the Mumbai Terror IV thread. Lets continue it there
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... start=1200
Raja Bose
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Raja Bose »

pmund wrote:MARCO (?) without the usual black dungaree and mask at Taj. Any guesses on why he went in in camos?? This is a pic of the first day of the attack

Image
Was he one of the two MARCOS who was injured....I recall seeing a pic (probably still there on militaryphotos.net) where a soldier in camo with neck wounds was being evacuated (looked very similar to this guy). Or perhaps he is one of the army commandos who went in initially?
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by sum »

Raja Bose wrote:
pmund wrote:MARCO (?) without the usual black dungaree and mask at Taj. Any guesses on why he went in in camos?? This is a pic of the first day of the attack


Was he one of the two MARCOS who was injured....I recall seeing a pic (probably still there on militaryphotos.net) where a soldier in camo with neck wounds was being evacuated (looked very similar to this guy). Or perhaps he is one of the army commandos who went in initially?
Did army commandos also go in?
I only recall reading about a off-duty 9-Para(??) soldier taking a video and passing it to the NSG!!?
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Aditya G »

“People keep talking about the Andhra Pradesh Greyhounds or the J&K Police Special Operations Group,” observes the New Delhi-based security analyst Ajai Sahni, “but they forget that these forces were only effective in the context of overall police modernisation.”
Is he reading BR? :eek:
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Rahul M »

pmund wrote:I had talked to a marine commando on the first day of the attack and he told me that these guys definitely had special forces training. Seems this is the confirmation

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumb ... 804856.cms
so we were right in guessing that on the first day itself, here on BRF.
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by pmund »

Def a Marco, not an army guy. Forget the camos, look at the epaulettes. Maybe he is an ex-NDA and sleeps in Camos :P so he just rolled off his bed and into the war. He is not injured, got a couple more pics of the same guy. As far as my info goes, no Marco was injured in the attack
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Avinash R »

NSG commando loses eye in 26/11, not spirit
Sam Daniel
Thursday, December 11, 2008 6:08 PM (Chennai)

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/mu ... &type=News

NSG commando A K Singh wants to fight for the country, even after losing sight in one eye while fighting terrorists at the Oberoi hotel in Mumbai. This happened just weeks before his wedding.

A K Singh was one of the brave NSG Commandos who stormed the 18th floor of the Oberoi hotel in Mumbai to rescue hostages and kill the terrorists a fortnight ago. But he has paid a heavy price.

Doctors say he has lost his vision in his left eye. Splinters had damaged his optic nerve when terrorists threw a hand grenade. But this has not dented his commando spirit.

"The spirit of the fauji never dies. Always it remains with full spirit and josh. I'm so proud to have been a part of this operation. I want to join my commandos fast," said Captain A K Singh, NSG Commando.

"When I reached his place he had already demonstrated his bravery. I'm sure he'd come back soon and join us all," said Major C Bharath, NSG commando.

The captain and his doctor friend Madhu had planned to get married soon. His fiance says that she is now all the more proud of her hero.

"We'd now get married soon after he recovers and gets fit, perhaps in December itself or in January," said Madhu, A K Singh's fianc .

Captain A K Singh who took the terrorists head on is still on his way to recovery. He's not complaining, but requires the best possible medical help.
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Rahul M »

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/mu ... &type=News
NSG commando recalls the horror of 26/11
Poonam Agarwal
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 8:29 AM (Pataudi, Haryana)

Though the worst ever terror attack has ended, the nightmares are still haunting NSG commando Sunil Yadav. Even after he had united with his family, Yadav cannot forget the fateful night when he took three bullets during the operation.

The 29-year-old, who belongs to Pataudi in Haryana, is now back home and recovering from mental and physical injuries he sustained two weeks ago in Mumbai.

An armyman for eight years, Sunil was posted in Jammu and Kashmir for six of those years. But he says that things at Taj hotel were way worse than the encounters he did in the Valley.

"There is a huge difference in the anti-terrorism mission that was carried out in Mumbai in comparison to the Valley. There were 1,200 rooms in Taj hotel. We didn't know which room militants were hiding in. And there is no citizen between terrorists and us in the Valley," he said.

Rated as one of the best NSG commandos, Sunil and his team rescued more than 150 hostages from the Taj hotel. He narrated the challenges they faced, one of them being the language barrier.

"There was too much of smoke and because of water our weapons got wet. A lady was making noise in the room. She didn't open the door so we broke in. She was hiding under the bed and thought we were terrorists. I pulled her out but she refused to come with us. She was a foreigner. Then I called a guide who explained her everything," Sunil said.

Sunil Kumar Yadav was in the team headed by Major Sandeep Unnikrishanan at Taj hotel. Sunil acted as guide to the team constantly informing the team whether it is safe to move ahead or not. He was the first commando who got injured in the operation. But he has only one regret that he couldn't fight for his country till the end.

"On the evening of November 27, a terrorist opened fire at me. Two bullets hit my ribs and one more crossed through my jacket," he said.

Sunil's parents spent a lot of tense time after the news reached them.

"My heart started beating fast when I came to know that he had been shot. I wanted to fly out to be with him," said Rajesh Kumar, Sunil's mother.

For now, Sunil is happy to be with his family and a two-year-old son. But he secretly hopes he recovers soon and goes back to doing what he does best.
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by ParGha »

From Munich to Mumbai

By AMI PEDAZHUR
Published: December 20, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/opini ... azhur.html
NOW that India and the world are over the initial shock of the terrorist attacks last month in Mumbai, efforts to understand what happened and prevent future calamities are being hampered in ways familiar to Israelis like myself, who have lived through far too many such events: pointless efforts to place blame, and a failure to put the attacks in the proper historical context.

First, contrary to much punditry in India and the West, these attacks did not indicate the emergence of a new form of terrorism. Actually, after decades in which terrorism had evolved mostly in the direction of suicide bombings, Mumbai was a painful reminder of the past.

The multiple hostage-takings and shootings, carefully planned and executed, were a throwback to the wave of hijackings and hostage situations that were the trademark of terrorists in the Middle East from the 1960s until the 1980s. The most famous of these events, of course, was the attack on the Israeli delegation at the 1972 Olympic Games.

In Munich, the Black September terrorists succeeded in capturing the attention of TV viewers around the world for a whole day. They knew most TV networks had sent crews to cover the Games and thus would broadcast the hostage situation as it unfolded.

The terrorists in Mumbai were even more successful, in that they created a drama that lasted much longer. They did so by aiming at high-profile targets like the hotels that are hubs for Western tourists and businessmen. They knew that viewers around the world would be glued for days to the constant stream of images on their TV and computer screens.

In addition, that the majority of the Mumbai terrorists landed from the sea was another ugly flashback. For years, terrorists favored arriving at Israel’s beaches on speed boats to take hostages in residential neighborhoods.

One of the most notorious perpetrators was Samir Kuntar, who in 1979 led a group of terrorists to the beach of Nahariya and shot a police officer and a civilian, Danny Haran, before smashing the skull of Haran’s 4-year-old daughter, Einat. Mr. Kuntar was released this year from Israel in a prisoner exchange, and in Damascus was awarded the Syrian Order of Merit.

Yet, despite the horrific nature of the attacks in the past, from a counterterrorism perspective the events in Mumbai were even more worrisome. Though they did not detonate explosive belts, the attackers were truly suicide terrorists. They did not take their hostages for the purpose of negotiations and it is quite clear that they did not hope to leave the scene alive.

They also created chaos by attacking several locations at once. When the terrorists have the advantage of surprise, it really does not matter how well trained the counterterrorism forces are. It takes a long time to figure out what is going on, to gather tactical intelligence and to launch a counterattack.

No one should be aware of these facts more than the Israelis who in the 1970s endured a series of similar albeit less sophisticated attacks.

Hence, I have been very surprised to hear Israeli security experts criticizing the Indian response. These experts probably forgot the devastating civilian death tolls of the attacks in Maalot in 1974 (22 Israeli high school students killed), at the Coastal Road in 1978 (37 murdered, including 13 children) and at Misgav Am in 1980 (two kibbutz members killed, one an infant). These incidents all illustrated the extreme difficulty of rescuing hostages even when the attacked state has highly trained forces and a lot of experience.

Yes, Israel enjoyed a few successes that have been glorified around the world. The most famous were the raids on hijacked planes in Lod, Israel, in 1972 and in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976. But these two airport rescues cannot be compared with the events in Mumbai.

The Israeli success was due mainly to the fact that the terrorists involved were interested in negotiating, giving security forces the opportunity to gather intelligence, devise a rescue plan and take the hijackers by surprise. Hostages and rescuers were killed in both cases. Yet no security experts argued at the time that the Israeli forces were inadequately prepared or failed in their execution.

It is clear that the Indian security forces made some mistakes. However, mistakes are inherent in such crises. At the same time, given the complex nature of the attacks, it seems likely the death toll could have been much higher. After the initial confusion, the Indians seem to have done a thorough job of gathering intelligence and carefully planning their counterattacks. The execution itself was careful and thorough.

Israel and India both face a lasting terrorism challenge. Yet, if I was asked to give India policy recommendations, I would be extremely cautious about advocating the Israeli approach. Protecting a huge multiethnic, multireligious country like India is far more challenging than securing a rather homogeneous, tiny state like Israel.

Just to illustrate, Israel’s airport security is rightly considered to be a model. However, the Israeli security establishment took years and experienced a number of direct attacks on travel hubs before it slowly introduced its impressive security measures. That Israel has only one major international airport — Ben-Gurion, near Tel Aviv — made the process much easier. And so far, Israel has not been able to tightly secure more challenging targets like train and bus systems.

The Israeli experience teaches that countering terrorism is a long and frustrating process of trial and error. Terrorists are fast to respond to new obstacles.

For example, the security barrier erected after the start of the second intifada in 2000 has brought a sharp decline in the number of suicide attacks. But Hamas adapted quickly. Suicide bombers were replaced by rockets. While the number of casualties caused by the rockets is significantly lower, I am not convinced that residents of the towns near Gaza feel any safer.

The Mumbai attacks showed just how difficult it is for large, multiethnic states to protect themselves from terrorism, something Americans have known well since 9/11. There is certainly much for New Delhi and Washington to learn from the Israeli experience, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution. While Israel has much to be proud of in how it has handled terrorism, it also has much to be humble about.
Ami Pedazhur, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas at Austin, is the author of the forthcoming book “The Israeli Secret Services and the Struggle Against Terrorism.”

Reminder: Not for discussion here; discuss at http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... &start=440
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by HariC »

Mumbai Mirror
Marcos made blind entry into Taj hotel



They went in without any idea of the hotel's layout but, probably, laid the foundation for NSG's success


MUMBAI MIRROR BUREAU




What was initially thought to be a gang war turned out to be one of the most gruesome Fidayeen attacks that India has ever witnessed. And if it weren't for the marine commandos of the Indian Navy, who were the first specialised group to respond to the crisis, the death toll may have been higher. In the absence of National Security Guards (NSG) or the Army, groups that are trained to handle terror attacks, the police found it difficult to handle the situation and by midnight, it sought help from the Navy, which immediately pressed two teams of its marine commandos into service.
By 2.30 am, one of the teams reached the Taj Hotel to begin its operation. In all the mayhem, however, they could not get much information from the hotel staff or policemen about the hotel layout, which has hundreds of rooms. Also, the commandos were unaware of how much ammunition, or what sort the terrorists possessed. “No one knew the layout of the hotel from the inside, nor did we have information about the weapons that were being used by the terrorists. So we began our operation blindly,” said the officer leading the team that stormed the Taj Hotel.
The marine commandos even in the absence of valuable strategic information walked gingerly into the Taj, scanning every corner of the ground floor first. There, a member of the hotel staff suggested that CCTV footage of the terrorists may provide them with some clue of how many terrorists were holed up and what sort of weapons they had with them. But when they tried to enter the CCTV room, they found that it was full of smoke. The terrorists had most probably damaged the room. Then gunshots were heard emanating from the second floor of the hotel. The commandos rushed up but found only dead bodies strewn all over the floor. “We saw about 15 dead bodies and around five to six injured people,” the officer said. Before they could help the injured, the terrorists opened fire on them. The commandos retaliated and the exchange of fire continued for some time.
The moment the terrorists realised they were outnumbered, they threw grenades at the team. After the firing stopped, the commandos arranged for the injured to be taken to the hospital while they got back to flushing out the terrorists. But when they returned to the room where the gunmen were holed up, they had vanished. From here on, the grim cat-and-mouse game began.
The commandos heard gunshots from the second floor of the new building. On rushing there they were met with a volley of bullets in which two commandos got injured. The team retaliated but the terrorists again managed to escape. “The terrorists were well acquainted with the hotel's layout. They must have done an elaborate survey to so precisely know every single entry and exit point,” the officer said.
While escaping the terrorists left behind their rucksack. “We found explosives, ammunition, money and food in the bag. It had seven magazines of AK series guns and 400 spare live rounds. There was also some amount of plastic explosives and a huge amount of dry fruits. There were seven credit cards of major banks like the ICICI, HSBC, HDFC, Axis and CITI bank. There were Rs 6,840 in Indian currency and a wad of dollars. It seems they had come prepared to fight a very long battle,” he said.
An identity card found from the spot revealed that one terrorist was a Mauritian national, indicating a strange terror network. Crime Branch officers said that such ID cards were found on all the terrorists who were killed since Wednesday and that in all likelihood, they were fake. “All terrorists carry fake IDs to help them move easily and to hoodwink investigations,” a crime branch officer said.
Even as the chase went on, the brave men in uniform rescued about 30 hotel staff and 200 guests. The rescued people also included the hotel MD. The team moved from floor-tofloor to flush out the terrorists but faced difficulties because it was dark and due to lack of knowledge of the hotel layout. This went on till 6.30 am when NSG commandos arrived and took charge. A similar operation was carried out even at the Trident till NSG again took charge.
Meanwhile, chief of staff, Navy, RK Pattnaik, denied that it was a lapse on part of the Navy that so many terrorists managed to sneak in though the sea route into the city. He said, “The sea is vast and its not possible to keep a check everywhere. It's the intelligence agencies who gather information on sneaking in of terrorists.”
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by HariC »

I forget where i got this from
He knew Taj was death trap, yet reported to duty day after 26/11
N GANESH

Next, he was told to escort NSG commandos; he returned with bullet in his waist but no regrets

T HIRTY- FOUR- year-old private security guard Rakesh Chawan is still unrepentant of the fact that he reported for duty on time at the Taj Hotel on November 27 despite knowing that the armed-to-the-teeth terrorists were creating havoc inside.
“I was merely doing my duty,” says Chawan, who is recuperating at the Bombay Hospital . He winces regularly in pain because of the injury in his waist caused by the bullet fired by the same terrorist who shot NSG commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan. On Saturday, Chawan was blessed with a baby, his first child.

Despite being aware that heavily armed terrorists had stormed the Taj Hotel on November 26, Chawan reported for duty at 9 am the next day. Soon, he was assigned to lead the team of 10 NSG commandos led by Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan. Chawan’s brief was simple: armed with a master key he was to open the doors of each and every room in the hotel’s old wing and then the commandos would take over. In case the rooms had guests then, they had to be escorted out to safety. But if it had terrorists, they had to be disarmed after a warning.

It took about four hours for the commandos to comb every nook and corner of all the rooms on the fifth and sixth floors. “At 10.15 am, I and the commandos started combing the rooms from the sixth floor downwards. We encountered only guests in the rooms till we reached the fourth floor,” recalls Chawan, a Dombivli resident.

“But as I opened room number 470, a terrorist was standing before us. He opened fire when a commando asked him to surrender. The first shot hit a commando and even as I ducked for safety, I could see from the corner of my eye that the terrorist kneeled and fired at me. I was hit,” recounts Chawan. He added that the commotion created while trying to convince an old lady to come out of her room located nearby may have alerted the terrorist.

Meanwhile, the then bleeding Chawan was rushed to the hospital. The bullet that entered from behind was lodged in his pelvic region and he could feel it with his hands. Though the bullet has been removed now, the wound is healing very slowly.

However, Chawan momentarily forgets his discomfort and breaks into a smile when he mentions that Ratan Tata had visited him in hospital when he was in the ICU. He adds thatThe Indian Hotels Company that runs the Taj Hotel is incurring all his medical expenses.

Meanwhile, in the absence of his wife Rashmi, Chawan was being assisted by his maternal uncle Ashok Nalawade (58). Chawan, who is employed with MPI Security, says he is raring to join back.

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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Avinash R »

HariC wrote:I forget where i got this from
He knew Taj was death trap, yet reported to duty day after 26/11
from expressindia. here is the link.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news ... 11/398323/
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Raja Bose »

^^^ From the above accounts, it seems the reconstruction I did a while back in this thread, of the incident which caused Maj. Unni's death seems to be more or less accurate. But what intrigued me back then and does so even now is....did NSG have orders to take the terrorists alive??....otherwise why the warning to surrender before firing coz usually the commandos train to identify hostile and fire accurately as fast as possible (one shot, one kill).
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Jagan »

A Letter from the Chief Secretary of the Mumbai Government to the Editor of India Today - tells you the timeline of events on the night.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9497671/Lette ... ndia-Today

The letter confirms that the Army and Navy responded promptly. It sets the timeline as for when the Marcos / NSG help was called for.

India Today, published only an excerpt out of it.

Image

Image
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Lalmohan »

Raja Bose wrote:otherwise why the warning to surrender before firing coz usually the commandos train to identify hostile and fire accurately as fast as possible (one shot, one kill).
unless they thought that the terrorist was holding a hostage or it was one of the guests - a command to surrender would have elicited a quick "help get me outta here!" response from a good guy
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by Rahul M »

anyone thinks this thread can still have some new articles ?
otherwise I'll archive it.
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Re: MARCOS & NSG ops in Mumbai Attack (News and Pics ONLY)

Post by George J »

Yes please archive this thread (if you can please delete the irrelevant posts before doing so).

Thanks you.
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