CNN: Taj Hotel Siege Over, last 3 attackers killed

[Akoto]

Source: CNN

Was just breaking on CNN.

Read more: None Yet

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I hope that is good news....

[uppityperson]

2. I've been watching this website too...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/

That would be great. This is really sad.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5241036.ece
This story says 40 Britons reportedly held hostage.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5246197.ece
Special Ops fighting now, 119 dead

[islandmkl]

3. not so fast, apparently....

[gristy]

4. Sure hope they capture some of the attackers alive

[ohio2007]

5. They captured one and got him singing . Wonder if they waterboarded him

Ismail alias Zakiruallah, a Punjabi from Faridkot in Pakistan who was arrested by the Mumbai police on Wednesday night during the terror attacks, is giving interrogators the complete story of how the sensational terror operation was planned and executed.


He has told the Mumbai police that he has been trained by the Lashkar e Tayiba, said police sources while giving chilling details of the most daring terror attack in India that has so far killed 101 people -- and the horror story is not over, yet.

snip


According to information collected by the police, on Wednesday evening, around 10 Pakistanis came by speed boats to the coast near Colaba in South Mumbai from Karachi. From fishing trawls they shifted to dinghies to reach Mumbai, and the transfer took place somewhere near Gujarat. Alert and smart fisherfolk could notice that some unknown characters in casual clothes had alighted. They were surprised to see unknown faces and the unusually large bags they were carrying.


Immediately they drew the attention of the local policemen from the nearby police post at Budhwar Park, Colaba. Within two hours of the fishermen's complaint to the police the terrorists had struck at Taj Mahal Hotel and at Trident hotel, Nariman House owned by Jews, and in Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and a few other places. It was a meticulous and well-planned operation which has given the perpetrators of the horrific act a tremendous boost.

While in Trident hotel between four and seven terrorists were involved, while in Taj Mahal hotel three to four terrorists created havoc. According to Ismail, there no Arabs in their group.


The Mumbai police has got information that some six-seven days back terrorists had made a dry run also. This act leads to them believe that some local people could be involved in the terror attack, too.


At this point in time the police believes that at least one terrorists has managed to escape


http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/nov/27mum-lashkar-0operative-ismail-arrested-for-attacks.htm

terrorists had made a dry run . Who's to say this Mumbai isn't a dry run. Don't "these people" claim to have thousands and what havoc these dirty dozen have grabbed media wise from around the world.

But meanwhile, Details on the womans and childrens hospital remain slim




They do seem to be mentioning India and "fishing boats" alot lately.

[ksimons]

11. thanks for all those details - interesting nt

[ananda]

6. Not quite

They are engaging one attacker at the Taj
and two or so at the Oberoi.

Hostages are being released from the Merriman
center but they don't know exactly how many
are left, if any.

Sue

[lebkuchen]

7. Here's a virtual tour of the Taj

If the attackers had time to case the place, I wonder if they made it to the Presidential or Executive Suites.

http://photowebusa.com/taj/taj-mahal-palace/index.htm

[bemildred]

8. Fierce fighting rages in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Deafening blasts and fierce gun battles continued late into the night on Thursday at two five star hotels and Nariman House in South Mumbai as the elite National Security Guard (NSG) and the Army grappled with terrorists who have been wreaking havoc in the financial hub since Wednesday night.

Maharashtra Director General of Police A.N. Roy said that four suspected terrorists were killed in the Taj Mahal operation and that more deaths were likely. He held himself back on the number of people who may still be inside the hotel, though people have been evacuated throughout the day. Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor said the Taj Operation was nearing an end and that most of the hotel's occupants were evacuated.

Mumbai's latest terror attack which has claimed 127 lives so far in firing, has numbed its usually resilient citizens. Most people preferred to stay indoors and roads and public transport were almost empty. Schools and colleges were closed. Following a rare decision, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange remained closed, as did forex and commodity markets.

Twenty to 25 suspected terrorist are estimated to have entered Mumbai, according to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Of them seven have been killed so far. The random firing by the suspected terrorists injured 288 people, six of them seriously. Even 24 hours after terrorists sprayed bullets and entered the Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi/ Trident and Nariman House, the ordeal showed no sign of abating. Personnel of the National Security Guard (NSG), the Military Police, the Army and the Navy, commandos and the State Reserve Police Force were waging a battle.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/28/stories/2008112855100100.htm

[lebkuchen]

9. caught completely by surprise

Intelligence isn't worth a hell of a lot

[bemildred]

10. Pretty fog-of-warlike still it sounds.

One has to notice the level of organization, the size of the attaching group, and the exploiting of a new weak spot, so to speak. There is going to be Hell to pay for this in one way or another. Like 9/11 in that way, you know there is going to be a long aftermath.

We can already anticipate an infinite variety of theories and explanations for who did it and why.

[lebkuchen]

14. shooting at anything that moves, per the US, is not the answer

which is one more reason why Obama needs to fill the top spot asap.

[bluesmail]

12. They ought not kill all of them if they want to know who is behind this

horrible event. We need to know.

[ohio2007]

13. An Indian taxi driver prevented the Mumbai airport "blast" due to his lack of driving skills

Taxi was meant to blow up Mumbai airport

snip
Shortly before the terrorists moved into their targets in South Mumbai, a black and yellow taxi, with three passengers and enough ammunition to bring down a dome, sped in the direction of the airport. Instead of taking a slip road that would have taken the passengers straight to the airport, the driver took the flyover which bypassed the airport, only to get stuck at a red light.

At rush hour, the lights stayed red for long, at which the passengers berated the driver and asked him to cut the traffic lights.
The driver moved on, but the wait turned out to be a minute or two too long. The car exploded. All that was found was a severed head and parts of three human legs. Had the terrorists' plans of coinciding a blast at the airport with the attacks on the Taj and Oberoi hotels succeeded, the death toll of 26/11 would have been much bigger than it already is.

snip
http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21166§ionid=4&issueid=81&Itemid=1

CNN: Taj Hotel Siege Over, last 3 attackers killed

really?
remember, if at first you don't succeed,
fly fly again

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. I'm puzzled by the detail that article seemes to know about what happened in a blown-up taxi

This article tells it quite differently - but more believably, from the point of view of how they'd be able to work out what happened:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cops_clueless_about_Vile_Parle_taxi_blast/articleshow/3766754.cms

[ohio2007]

17. This is how

Raw Video, Drive-by Shooting of Civilians By Terrorists in Stolen Police Van
Police van stolen by terrorists do a drive-by, shoot indiscriminately into crowd.


http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cca_1227755968

people on the streets reporting and uploading events faster then the media can verify a story. Cops had their vans stolen. I'm guessing it was the first cops that arrived on scene at the boat docks to the fishermen's call of suspicious activity


If you live in this town as things are happening, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to to connect the dots of five star hotels and "body parts gone wild" on the road could most likely be related.

No video available that I know of of the taxi wreck other then this unrelated pick related to a tin foil website;
http://ikhwanweb.com/Article.asp?ID=18774&SectionID=100
I don't think its related.

The only thing I found puzzling about the India times article was the reference to "rush hour" traffic.
I think in an overcrowded city that never sleeps,every hour is rush hour.

The only thing I find puzzling about this Live Leak video is a voice around the :34 second mark saying
"Taliban"! It can be heard several times again in the loop.
Maybe not but
it sure sounds like somebody suspects a certain group and it isn't AQ

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. No, that explains nothing

That's a video from Indian TV of an unrelated incident.

How did your link know there were 3 passengers in the taxi, if only 3 legs were found? How did it know the passengers 'berated' the driver at the lights, and 'asked him' to jump the red light?

Note the Times of India story has the passenger on the phone to his daughter - and he wasn't actually going to the airport, which explains why the taxi wasn't on the direct road to the airport.

[ohio2007]

23. how's this. looks like the meter is still running

Onlookers stand at the site of a bomb blast in Mumbai November 26, 2008. (REUTERS/Stringer) #
I know I know,
How can I tell thats a Mumbai taxi ? :eyes: And why are these people standing around at 3 am ?

Fine, enjoy your Egyptian river cruise.

[Art_from_Ark]

20. Rush hour in cities that never sleep

Here in crowded Tokyo there are rush hours and there are times of relatively smooth traffic flow. You can slip into the city fairly easily on the expressways at around 6:00 a.m. For that matter today, even at 7:30, the traffic wasn't too bad. And some parts of the city are always going to be quieter than others.

[nsd]

21. The account in the Times of India story is puzzling.

It seems that there were two people in the cab, the driver and the passenger. The other two people injured may have been bystanders; the article doesn't describe them as passengers.

But if this is true, then which of the two in the cab was responsible? The driver picked up an apparently unrelated passenger, hardly what you'd expect of a man on a suicide mission. It's not even clear he was headed towards the airport; it sounds like they were just passing nearby. The passenger was a 57-year-old lawyer, not the typical profile of a suicide bomber; his movements that day seem to be well accounted for and innocuous; he was in contact with his family until right before the blast; he has a Hindu name, which would argue against his being associated with the hotel terrorists; and he was in a cab -- you'd think a terrorist would plan ahead, instead of just hailing the nearest taxi.

So what happened there? Other than timing, is there any reason to think this is connected with the hotel stuff?

[ohio2007]

24. So you are saying just because there is blown up taxi in Mumbai there should be no reason to draw

any here say eyewitness conclusions that it is related to the hotel ,deli and hospital incidents ?

lol





well, yes,
It could have been bad gas......
You know how that Indian cuisine is .

Live reports still say the Taj hotel is still not secured
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/mumbai_under_attack.html

btw, don't trut the dinosaur media, the hard copy paper is two days old and live feeds will get the best coverage

[ohio2007]

26. Cops "clueless" about Vile Parle taxi blast ? that doesn't sound reassuring to me

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cops_clueless_about_Vile_Parle_taxi_blast/articleshow/3766754.cms

not understanding what happened is more believable ?

Maybe "the inside job" articles will pop up over the weekend.

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. Because it doesn't claim to know the argument between 4 dead people

who were then apparently so obliterated to only 3 out of 8 legs could be found. But a story that there was 1 named passenger, and a driver, fits the facts better. We know that man, not part of the attack, was a passenger in a taxi and was killed. We know he wasn't going to the airport.

They now think it was a grenade thrown at (into?), or left in, the taxi:

He was returning to his relative's house when the taxi went up in flames at Ville Parle, struck by a grenade hurled by the terrorists.

http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=13122

The shocked family members of Goel said he rang them up from the CST station to inform them that he had missed the train and was returning to his sister-in-law's house.

He boarded a taxi but could not reach his destination. At Vile Parle, the taxi burst into flames, killing Goel, the taxi driver and another unidentified passenger.

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=102844

On Wednesday, the two terrorists flagged down Omar’s vehicle at Vile Parle, police said. They got off after a while. Within minutes, the grenade blew up.

The incident took place around 9.30pm, making Omar one of the earlier victims of the terror attacks.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081129/jsp/nation/story_10182089.jsp

[aquart]

16. How do we know what happened inside the cab?

If no one got out alive?

[ohio2007]

18. lol. they must have been amatures because they sure got out all over the place. Wonder if cell phone

was the way explosives were set off.. More then a few videos had big bangs happening in the background

CNN reporter ducks for cover
CNN's Sara Sidner ducks for cover following a loud explosion at Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8ab_1227796659

not much of a vid but somebodys back pack may have contained a cell phone timer ?

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. Taxis blown up to kill drivers who had seen the terrorists

Now it appears that the explosive-laden taxis were not meant to carry death to other parts of Mumbai, rather the terrorists wanted to eliminate any trail that might lead the investigators to them early on. In this case it meant the hapless taxi drivers who ferried two batches of terrorists from near Badhwar Park to various destinations.

Just as these men killed everyone they met on their way from Porbander to Mumbai, including a fisherman on the boat Kuber which they had hijacked, the taxi drivers were the other men who could identify them.

"We suspect that the terrorists had planted bombs in the taxis in anticipation that those taximen may leak their plans and may identify them later. We are cross checking these details," said Joint Commissioner of Police (crime), Rakesh Maria.

According to crime branch officials, a batch of ten terrorists landed at Machchimar Nagar at Cuffe Parade at around 8.30 pm on Wednesday in dinghies. From there, as reported by us earlier, they split in four groups. Four of them went toward the Taj, two to CST, two to the Trident and the final two to Nariman House. In all, these men hired four taxis. Crime Branch officers now suspect that possibly explosive devices were left in these cabs both of which went off within 15 minutes of each other and seem otherwise unrelated to the main terror operation.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Mumbai_Cops_explain_taxi_mystery/articleshow/3776447.cms

Which fits with the story about the passenger going to his sister-in-law - having picked up the taxi near the railway station, where some of the terrorists had gone earlier. And shows the story about the argument with the driver about missing the turning to the airport, and that the airport was the real target, was just made up by someone.

[IndianaGreen]

22. Sadly, this report was premature

The attackers know the layout of the hotel better than the Indian authorities.

[ohio2007]

25. live reports there say that maybe only two "guests" are remaining holed up.

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/video_streaming.php

Some will get away

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. Now all reports say it is really over

AP: Indian forces kill last gunmen in Mumbai
BBC: Troops search Mumbai siege hotel ("hours after an assault ended a bloody three-day siege there")
Mumbai Terrorist Siege Over, India Says