The war on terror in Mumbai was finally wrapped up 60 hours after a band of terrorists struck at various locations with three gunmen killed this morning at the landmark luxury Taj Hotel, bringing the operation to a close.
NSG commandos, who believed that a lone terrorist was holding out since yesterday, launched a final assault in the early hours of this morning and killed three terrorists to secure the old heritage area of the hotel opposite the Gateway of India.
"Three terrorists have been killed but the operations are still on. Until we search the entire hotel room by room and satisfy ourselves that there are no more terrorists I will not declare the operations are over.
"I don't know whether all of them have been killed. I can say only after completing the operations," Director General of NSG, J K Dutt, told reporters outside the hotel.
During the night, terrorists holed out in the hotel engaged in a fierce gun battle with security forces as some places in the first and the ground floors of the 565-room building set afire by terrorists amid explosions in the over 100-year-old heritage complex in the Colaba area.
Dutt said that the terrorists set on fire some rooms whenever they felt they were being cornered as a diversionary tactics.
An intense gun battle raged overnight at the Taj as commandos closed in on terrorists holed up in the heritage structure. Five huge explosions were also heard in the building in a span of 30 minutes.
The Marine commandos (Marcos) had surrounded the Taj where NSG personnel were carrying out the operation to flush out the terrorists. Multiple rounds of automatic gunfire and blasts from inside the building shattered several hours of relative calm.
The western metropolis witnessed unprecedented terror attacks, including on another luxury Trident-Oberoi hotel and a Jewish centre, on Wednesday night when heavily-armed terrorists struck killing over 160 people and injuring hundreds.
The might of the Indian security forces had to be brought in to rid these landmark in the country's financial capital of the heavily-armed suspected Pakistani terrorists, but the costs were heavy on both sides.
When the Oberoi was cleared of the terrorists yesterday, as many as 30 hostages were found dead.
Source: PTI
Showing posts with label Taj Mahal and Trident Hotels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taj Mahal and Trident Hotels. Show all posts
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Mumbai Liberated: But will this be its wake-up call?
Just as the images of billowing smoke from the twin towers of New York are seared in the memories of people all television visuals of the raging fire in the ornate façade of Mumbai's iconic Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel will be recalled whenever the deadly terrorist attack on India's financial capital Nov 26-29 is mentioned. The booming sound of gunfire as the security forces engaged the jehadis will also become a part of the nation's collective memory.
Although Mumbai is no stranger to such outrages - the Taj itself experienced a car bomb attack in 2003 - the latest tragedy stands out from the rest for the simple reason that it was an evidently commando-style raid by suicide bombers with the express purpose of inflicting as much damage as possible on some of the city's landmarks and targets of its prosperity and progress.
While in the earlier attacks, the terrorists planted bombs in market places or trains and then left the scene, this time they stayed on to battle the security forces and die or be captured in the process. Since they were all heavily armed and were able to take hostages, they could carry on the confrontation with the police for prolonged periods, which could not but have a hugely demoralising effect on the city and the country. Since India had not seen such war-like scenes before, the impact was devastating and it would take some time before its political fallout could be measured.
It is possible that the terror groups had realised the diminishing effect of their earlier tactics of planting bombs in crowded places and vehicles. In spite of the initial shock and revulsion in those instances, the effect tended to wear off, leaving only the victims to mourn their losses. But gunbattles lasting for hours and the wheeling out of bodies covered in white sheets from five-star hotels can have a numbing effect.
Source: IANS
Although Mumbai is no stranger to such outrages - the Taj itself experienced a car bomb attack in 2003 - the latest tragedy stands out from the rest for the simple reason that it was an evidently commando-style raid by suicide bombers with the express purpose of inflicting as much damage as possible on some of the city's landmarks and targets of its prosperity and progress.
While in the earlier attacks, the terrorists planted bombs in market places or trains and then left the scene, this time they stayed on to battle the security forces and die or be captured in the process. Since they were all heavily armed and were able to take hostages, they could carry on the confrontation with the police for prolonged periods, which could not but have a hugely demoralising effect on the city and the country. Since India had not seen such war-like scenes before, the impact was devastating and it would take some time before its political fallout could be measured.
It is possible that the terror groups had realised the diminishing effect of their earlier tactics of planting bombs in crowded places and vehicles. In spite of the initial shock and revulsion in those instances, the effect tended to wear off, leaving only the victims to mourn their losses. But gunbattles lasting for hours and the wheeling out of bodies covered in white sheets from five-star hotels can have a numbing effect.
Source: IANS
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Terror puts brake on Mumbai cos
Hardly 14 hours have passed since Mumbai have come under siege of terror. Taj Mahal and Trident Hotels, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Colaba and other locations in south Mumbai are virtually terror-stricken in the attack that claimed 78 lives and injuring hundred of people.
As the hubs of activities in the city are still under the gun-wielding terrorists, the impact of these heinous crimes against humanity is evidently being reflected in the city's business affairs and the IT sector is no exception.
As a reflection of the terror siege, many IT companies have closed their shutters for the day and some have reportedly asked their employees to work from home.
Netcore Slutions Pvt Ltd, an IT product and service company based in Mumbai, decided to down the shutter for the day considering the situation in the city.
"Whatever has happened is unfortunate. And we have decided not to work today considering the security of the employees," said Abhijit Saxena, CEO, Netcore.
However, he hoped that things would normalize soon and people would be back to work. "After all, terror attack is not something exclusive to India and hence I don't think it would have any major impact on the industry or the economic scenario of the country as such," said Saxena.
TCS House near CST, the main office of Tata Consultancy Services in Mumbai has also downed the shutters today considering the extremely panicking situation. However, the TCS offices in north Mumbai are working.
"TCS employees that work out of our offices in South Mumbai can operate out of any of the offices in North Mumbai until further advise," Pradipta Bagchi, senior general manager, Corporate Communications, TCS said a in a statement.
"A team of TCS experts continue to monitor the situation continuously and the company has very well established business continuity plans in place should the need arise to implement them," he added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Government has declared a general holiday for today. The terror strike has also resulted in the cancellation of many IT events in the city. Sun Microsystems, which had planned to announce its new initiative targeted at emerging markets sales region in India, has been called off the event for the time being.
Another such event of Sony Ericsson slated for today, which was set at ITC Grand Central in Parel, Mumbai's central suburb has also been cancelled.
It appears that the IT businesses are under the 'wait and watch' mood till the tense situation in the financial capital improves and the business is back to normalcy.
Source: CMN
As the hubs of activities in the city are still under the gun-wielding terrorists, the impact of these heinous crimes against humanity is evidently being reflected in the city's business affairs and the IT sector is no exception.
As a reflection of the terror siege, many IT companies have closed their shutters for the day and some have reportedly asked their employees to work from home.
Netcore Slutions Pvt Ltd, an IT product and service company based in Mumbai, decided to down the shutter for the day considering the situation in the city.
"Whatever has happened is unfortunate. And we have decided not to work today considering the security of the employees," said Abhijit Saxena, CEO, Netcore.
However, he hoped that things would normalize soon and people would be back to work. "After all, terror attack is not something exclusive to India and hence I don't think it would have any major impact on the industry or the economic scenario of the country as such," said Saxena.
TCS House near CST, the main office of Tata Consultancy Services in Mumbai has also downed the shutters today considering the extremely panicking situation. However, the TCS offices in north Mumbai are working.
"TCS employees that work out of our offices in South Mumbai can operate out of any of the offices in North Mumbai until further advise," Pradipta Bagchi, senior general manager, Corporate Communications, TCS said a in a statement.
"A team of TCS experts continue to monitor the situation continuously and the company has very well established business continuity plans in place should the need arise to implement them," he added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Government has declared a general holiday for today. The terror strike has also resulted in the cancellation of many IT events in the city. Sun Microsystems, which had planned to announce its new initiative targeted at emerging markets sales region in India, has been called off the event for the time being.
Another such event of Sony Ericsson slated for today, which was set at ITC Grand Central in Parel, Mumbai's central suburb has also been cancelled.
It appears that the IT businesses are under the 'wait and watch' mood till the tense situation in the financial capital improves and the business is back to normalcy.
Source: CMN
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