Indian Troops Storm 'Last Hold-out'

[XXPANTHAXX]

Friday, November 28, 2008
07:15 Mecca time, 04:15 GMT

Indian troops storm 'last hold-out'

The Oberoi appeared quiet just before dawn on Friday

Indian forces have stormed a Jewish centre that appears to be the last
hold-out of attackers who had carried out a series of co-ordinated
assaults in Mumbai, India's financial capital, leaving up to 120 people
dead.

Troops were seen on television rappelling down from a helicopter into
the headquarters of Orthodox Jewish group Chabad Lubavitch early on
Friday after attackers had taken the building more than 24 hours
earlier.

Hostages had earlier been freed from the building but attackers were
believed to be still holed up inside.

The operation came after troops wrested control of the Oberoi hotel in
Mumbai from armed attackers.

Hotel officials told Al Jazeera that all the guests were safe and the
hotel had been secured.

Al Jazeera's Riz Khan, reporting from outside the Oberoi where gunfire
had been heard throughout Thursday, said things were quiet just before
dawn on Friday.

Commandos were combing through the Oberoi and the Taj Mahal, another
luxury hotel and famous city landmark, for survivors and possible
remaining attackers more than 24 hours after a string of well-organised
strikes in the city left more than 120 people dead and over 300 injured.

'External linkages'

Meanwhile, The Hindu, an Indian newspaper, citing unidentified police
investigators, reported on Friday that three alleged attackers had
confessed to being members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group
which aims to end Indian rule in Kashmir.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, which means army of God, had earlier denied any role in
the attacks.

The newspaper said interrogation of the suspects revealed that Lashkar
operatives had left Karachi in Pakistan in a merchant ship early on
Wednesday and went ashore at Mumbai on a small boat before splitting up
into teams to attack multiple locations.

Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, condemned the attacks on
Thursday and blamed those "outside the country".

"It is evident that the group that carried these attacks, based outside
the country, had come with single-minded determination to create havoc
in the commercial capital of the country," he said.

"I strongly condemn these senseless acts of violence against innocent
people, including guests from foreign countries.

"The well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external
linkages, were intended to create a sense of terror by choosing
high-profile targets."

A little known group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen claimed
responsibility for the attack in emails to news organisations.

But Mahan Abedin, an insurgency analyst, told Al Jazeera that "at this
stage, that name does not necessarily mean that much".

"We have seen an increase in recent years in indigenous Indian Muslim
organisations beginning to take a violent stance towards the Indian
state and sections of the Indian society, particularly the commercial
elite of places like Mumbai, in order to highlight, they would say, the
sheer inequality of life in India.

"There is a middle class of around 100 million who live very well but
800 million-plus people live in miserable conditions," he said.

Gun battles

Gunfire and explosions were heard throughout Thursday from the Oberoi
and Taj Mahal hotels where scores of terrified guests had been trapped
in their rooms, and security forces said they were carrying out "mop up"
operations to ensure all attackers had been subdued.

Witness accounts

"They told everybody to stop and put their hands up and asked if there
were any British or Americans … My friend said to me, 'don't be a hero,
don't say you are British.'"

- Alex Chamberlain, British guest at the Oberoi Trident who fled via a
fire escape

"That was, without doubt, the worst experience of my entire life … We
could hear the army coming through the hotel ... The firemen broke the
windows of the room and we climbed down the ladder."

- Female guest, Taj Mahal hotel

"They wore black T-shirts and blue jeans. They were carrying big guns …
They just fired randomly at people and then ran away. In seconds, people
fell to the ground."

- Nasim Inam, at Chhatrapati Shivaji railway terminus

"As I stepped inside the lobby gunshots started to go off ... There were
people getting shot in the corridor. There was someone dead outside the
bathroom."

- Brooke Satchwell, an Australian television actress, who hid in a
cupboard in the Taj Mahal hotel.

At the Taj Mahal three attackers were killed in gunfights with
government troops and commandos, Indian officials said.

"We are fully in control of the situation. I am fully confident we will
achieve our objectives," JK Dutt, the director of India's National
Security Guards, said.

An estimated 100 armed men launched what India police called "terrorist
attacks" on 10 locations in India's financial centre.

The attackers fired indiscriminately and threw grenades, hitting the
historic Chhatrapati Shivaji train station, the Leopold Cafe popular
with tourists and the police headquarters in southern Mumbai.

Several attackers were killed and at least nine others arrested, police
said.

At least 11 policemen, including three senior officers, were killed in
the attacks, among them Hemant Karkare, the chief of the city's
anti-terrorism squad.

At least nine foreigners were also among the dead, police said, but most
of those killed and injured were locals.

Witnesses at the hotels that were targeted said the attackers had
singled out British and American citizens.

"They kept shouting: 'Who has US or UK passports?'" Ashok Patel, a
British citizen who fled from the Taj Mahal hotel, said.

Several European legislators, visiting Mumbai ahead of a European
Union-India summit, were among those inside the Taj when it was
besieged.


Thursday, November 27, 2008
12:31 Mecca time, 09:31 GMT

Voices from Mumbai

By Sugandha Johar

Shaken residents fled for their lives as the attackers took Mumbai by
surprise

Mumbai, India's commercial capital, is a lively and vibrant city. It
currently finds itself under siege following the co-ordinated attacks,
but residents say the resilient city will survive and overcome the odds.


Al Jazeera captures some of the voices:

Raju Kane, CEO, Source PR Agency:

Obviously this attack meant to cause maximum terror. They have attacked
Trident and Taj, the two most high profile targets. Senior businessmen
from India, and senior MNC officials are some of those trapped there.
After this attack people are going to think many times before coming to
India.

This is bad for the image of the country, and bad PR. This will
definitely have adverse effects on the economy as people will go back on
their travel plans. Australia has already put out an advisory advising
their citizens not to visit India.

We are already in a economic slowdown. This attack will have
repercussions on the tourism industry which is reeling from the global
meltdown. However, Mumbai itself will be stunned, scared for a few days
and then come out of it. We pride ourselves in not letting terrorists or
anything pull us down.

Ranu Vora - MD, Avendus, an investment bank:

The entire community is stunned as the targets are very important and
vital business destinations. High profile deals and decisions take place
in the portals of these two hotels. Because of these attacks many of the
conferences and meetings will have to be cancelled or postponed. We
ourselves were supposed to have a meeting with our investors, most of
whom would have stayed at the Taj or the Trident. That meeting cannot
happen now, which will have some fallout on some of our projects.

The stock markets are closed today, and there is bound to be some
downturn for a while, but that is bound to be temporary. This is a
security issue so some business can face a downturn.

The attacks will reduce the confidence of the investors which is already
very shaky because of the liquidity crunch. This will mean that the
stock market recovery will be more delayed than first envisaged.

But having said that it is also true that this is not the first time
this city has been attacked. We are learning to take this in our stride.
This attack has not and will not make any impact on our economic
fundamentals. India will continue to grow albeit at a slower pace.

Ranjit Dhuru - Chairman of AFTEC, a software firm:

This attack was unexpected. Although it looks like they were after the
US and the British citizens, it is aimed at destroying the Indian
economy and our development. More than the economics it is going to have
a severe effect on the polity. It will end up in hardening the attitude
of the government to the terrorist and extremists which many felt was
rather soft.

I worry that as this attack has come during election time it might lead
to the rise of some rightist elements which I sincerely hope does not
happen.

The Indian stock market is already in the doldrums. This has more to do
with the global meltdown and the western investors pulling their money
out. This attack might lead to a temporary setback, but then we have
learnt to take such attacks in our stride. Some 15 -20 gun totting men
cannot make a huge lasting impact.

I don't think the software industry will suffer as a result of this
incident. Our industry has more to do with what happens in the US and
Europe, and there we are already suffering. This might temporarily scare
people but then such scares pass soon and then things get back to
normal.

Harsh Roongta - Chairman, Apna Loan, a web company that gives retail
loans:

Any such attacks anywhere in the world have to be roundly condemned.
This one is unprecedented in terms of its planning, scale, manner and
audacity. Although none of my near and dear ones were affected, my
prayers are for those who have suffered horrendous loss.

Such attacks have a psychological cost. Terrorism has now become a part
of the global landscape, and especially so for India. We have been
attacked often and in different parts. Our only answer to such
atrocities can be that we do not let them win. Ordinary people like me
should and will go about their daily lives or else we give in to them.

Long term impact of these attacks cannot be predicted at this moment.
The whole episode has to play itself out. I do know that it will have a
cost, but what it is we do not know. If the situation is contained, and
contained soon, any effect will be minimal. But then it has to be
contained soon.

Sometimes such incidents also have a positive impact as they shock and
jolt people in coming together. Having said this, the attack is bound to
have personal ramifications and therefore economic ramifications.
Overall, the situation is already very tentative because of the global
slowdown, and this can make it further shaky for a while but after that
things will settle back to normal.

The only way we can deal with them is to go about our lives and work in
as usual and not let them win.

Satya Rath - Journalist:

The attacks as you know were very well planned and executed. Obviously,
the intention was to show India that the terrorists can attack us at
will – wherever and whenever they choose. The Taj and the Trident are
big and important landmarks for Mumbai as the Twin Towers were for New
York.

The attacks are certain to hit the economy where confidence is already
low. Now the businesses and stock market will lose even more investors
and that will hurt the common people even more.

I was at work opposite the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus when the attack
on the train station began. We did not know what was happening so we
rushed to the terrace to find out.

We saw two of the terrorists, and one of us tried to photograph one of
them. He was also fired at, but luckily escaped unhurt.

We also saw twenty policemen trying to fight, but the situation was way
beyond their league as the policemen only had 306 rifles which have to
be loaded after every firing while they were facing terrorists armed
with deadly automatic weapons.

Manda Mantri – Housewife:

There was carnage when the bomb went off outside my apartment. Police
were everywhere. There were body parts all around, blood everywhere. We
were just glued to the television, worried. Thankfully all my relatives
are safe. I feel for those affected. I am so scared. I wonder what these
people gain by killing innocents like the taxi driver who was killed in
the blast in front of my home.

Source: Al Jazeera