Mumbai siege nears end

MUMBAI: The terror war on Mumbai was on the verge of ending with Security Forces securing the 5-star Oberoi hotel and a Jewish Centre (Nariman House) but gunmen continued to hold out inside the Taj hotel at the end of pitched combat that left 30 hostages dead.

At the Centre (Nariman House), a residential complex housing a prayer hall, commandos were air dropped from helicopters in a first such operation ever.

Two terrorists were killed but not before five of the hostages were eliminated by them.

A clean-up operation was still on late last night at the Centre where the victims reportedly included the Rabbi and his wife.

The might of the Indian security forces had to be brought in to rid these landmarks in the country's financial capital of the heavily-armed terrorists who seized the two hotels and the Centre on Wednesday night, but the costs were heavy on both sides.

When the Oberoi was cleared of the terrorists this afternoon, as many as a total of 30 hostages were found dead in the hotel raising the toll in the worst terrorist strike against India to over 160 including 16 security personnel.

Two terrorists were killed at the Trident Oberoi hotel. Eleven terrorists were also eliminated, one was captured and some were believed to be inside the Taj.

"The Oberoi Trident is totally clear of terrorists and is now under our control. The two terrorists holed up there have been killed," NSG Director General J K Dutt told reporters outside the hotel in south Mumbai after more than a day of fierce exchange of fire between his commandos and terrorists.

"We are sanitising every room to make sure no undesirable elements are there and relief can be provided to guests there," Dutt said.

Twenty four bodies were found in the search operations in Oberoi hotel, Police Commissioner Hasan Ghafur told reporters adding six hostages were killed on Wednesday by the terrorists under a staircase while taking them to the roof.

While the 34-floor Trident has 541 rooms, the adjacent 11-storeyed Oberoi has 327 rooms.

At the 565-room Taj, commandoes continued to be engaged in fierce exchange of fire with terrorists who are believed to be moving between floors. "We are trying to corner one terrorist," Dutt said.

The NSG has recovered two AK-47 assault rifles, one 9 mm pistol and some unexploded grenades.

The arrested terrorist is a Pakistani national and the state police has acquired a lot of information about the whole plan for the strikes. M L Kumawat, Secretary (internal Security) in the Union Home Ministry, told reporters in Delhi that Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan of the NSG was killed during the encounter with terrorists in Taj while another commando Omkar Chander was killed in Nariman House.

He said a 60-member fresh contingent of NSG commandos was dispatched from Delhi yesterday in addition to two contingents already there. More than 475 commandos are engaged in the operations.

"It is just a matter of a few hours before we will be able to wrap up things," Southern Command

Chief Lt Gen Noble Thamburaj told reporters in Mumbai outside Taj hotel as 35 hostages, including foreigners and a six-month old infant, were successfully rescued from Oberoi-Trident.

The new building of Taj hotel has been totally flushed out and cleared and handed over to police, he said adding that some terrorists, had moved into the adjacent old heritage building.

The commandos found money, ammunition and an identity card from Mauritius that they suspected belonged to the militants, the commander, his face disguised by a black scarf and sunglasses, told a news conference.

Pakistan's spy chief has agreed to share intelligence with New Delhi on the brazen militant attacks in Mumbai, India said as a siege at two hotels and a Jewish centre neared its end amid gunfire and more deaths.

Times of India, Thomson Reuters