PAY TRIBUTES TO ALL INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO DIED

AND THE SOLDIER

WHO FOUGHT OUR BATTLES

Many are calling it India's 9/11, when Mumbai was struck hard by one of the worst terrorist attacks that the country has ever seen.
It is tragic - to say the least - as the fear keeps rising and the crisis deepens with every hour, uncertainty ushers in a feeling of hopelessness.
A common thread of death, of course, looms large. Some were victims - to the indiscriminate firing of the terrorists and others died in trying to save the lives of others - prey in the hands of unprecedented violence. Every bullet signaling the reign of hatred, that overrides courage.
We pay tribute to those who lost their lives. You shall always be in our minds, as you are in those who knew you.

3 TERRORISTS KILLED

OPERATION TAJ NEAR END

Mumbai: Following a heavy exchange of fire, National Security Guard (NSG) commandos early on Saturday gunned down three terrorists at the Taj Heritage hotel, DG NSG J K Dutt said.
One of the terrorists, who was stood near the window, was killed when a security personnel shot at him while he attempted to lob a grenade.
"We found the dead bodies of two terrorists inside the hotel lobby. They had AK 47 guns on them," Dutt said.

However, he added that he can not confirm if the Taj has been cleared of all terrorists as the sanitisation process was still on.
"I can't say that our operation is over. To make sure that there is no other threat, we are still searching each and every room of the hotel," Dutt said.

Pak's U-turn; to send representative, not ISI chief
Pakistan has done an about turn on sending the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief to India in connection with the probe into the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, saying a representative of the spy agency would be sent instead of him.The decision was made at a late night meeting on Friday between President Asif Ali Zardari and General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of the powerful army.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also joined the meeting, which was held at the presidency and continued past 1.30 am local time."A representative of the ISI will visit India, instead of its Director General Lt Gen Shuja Pasha, to help in investigating the Mumbai terrorism incident," a spokesman for the Prime Minister's House said in Islamabad.

Pak hand in Mumbai attack: Pranab
India on Friday said preliminary information suggested that "some elements" in Pakistan were responsible for the terror strikes in Mumbai.
New Delhi is expected to take up the matter with Islamabad when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaks with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari later in the day.
"According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters.
"Proof cannot be disclosed at this time," he said, noting that Pakistan had assured India that it will not allow use of its territory for launching attacks against this country.
Pakistan had given this assurance at a meeting Singh and Zardari had on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly session on September 24.In an address to the nation, the prime minister had on Thursday blamed elements outside the country for the terror strikes in Mumbai and warned that India would not tolerate the use of territory of its neighbours for attacks in the country.
India will take up "strongly with our neighbours that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated and that there would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken by them".
Singh had said the "well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of panic by choosing high profile targets and indiscriminately killing foreigners".

List of policemen dead:
In the situation that is fast slipping out of Mumbai Police's control, the official figures of fatalities among the Mumbai Police are as follows.
Jt CP Hemant Karkare
Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar
Additonal CP Ashok Kamte
Police Sub Insdpector Prakash More
Police Constable Chite
Police Constable Khandekar
Police Inspector Shashank Sinde
RailwayPolice Sub Inspector Durgude
ATSAssnt SI Nanasaheb Bhosale
Poliece Constable Jaywant Patil
Police Constable Yogesh Patil
Police Constable Ambadas Ramchandra Pawar
Police Constable MC Chaudhary
Total dead: Official count at 6:30 am - 156 (unconfirmed source)
Total injured: 387 (unconfirmed source)
13 senior officers of the Mumbai Police were offering their services to combat the riotous situation. Of these, seven IPS officers have reportedly been grievously injured.

Nariman House, Oberoi cleared off terrorists; battle on at Taj
The operations against the siege of Mumbai have entered a critical phase on Friday evening, two days after terrorists struck at various locations in the financial capital of the country.
Till 7 pm, the rescue operations at Nariman House and Oberoi Hotel were accomplished, gunbattle was still on at Taj Hotel. The armed forces are using grenades in an attempt to smoke out the terrorists, apparently on the first floor of the old wing of Taj.
The fate of the hostages at Nariman House, including the Rabbi of the Jewish centre Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, was not immediately known. The couple's two-year-old son and a staff member at the centre had managed to escape the building.
The operation to clear the building had started around 7.30 am on Friday when National Security Guard commandos slid down ropes from two military helicopters to the roof of the house. After intermittent firing and heavy shelling, the operation ended at around 6.20 pm
NSG Chief J.K. Datta said, “The operation has been successful. Six bodies have been recovered, out of which two are of foreigners and two have been identified as terrorists. Some grenades, two AK-47 rifles and a pistol were found at the hotel. The hotel is being sanitised now. There are no casualties of NSG officers.” However, at the Taj Hotel, an injured terrorist is said to be holed up.

Taj, Oberoi under control: National Security Guard
The head of India's commando unit said on Friday that his men had taken "full control" of the Oberoi Trident hotel after killing the last of two terrorists.
JK Dutt, director general of the National Security Guard (NSG), told reporters that they had found six bodies and were now searching every room for hidden terrorists and possible guests.
Dutt said two AK-47 rifles and a pistol have been seized from the dead terrorists whom they first tried to capture.
The NSG, which was deployed to take on terrorists who caused havoc in Mumbai from Wednesday night killing some 125 people, had also found live grenades. These would now be defused.
"The Oberoi is (now) empty (of terrorists). Two terrorists have been killed. The entire Trident and Oberoi hotel is under our full control," he told an army of reporters at the hotel's premises.
He said Indian soldiers and the Maharashtra Police had thrown an effective ring around the hotel while the commando operation was on to prevent terrorists from escaping.
Dutt said since the keys of some rooms were missing, the NSG was using explosives to force open locked doors.

Hotel Oberoi under control: NSG chief
MUMBAI: NSG chief on Friday said that two terrorists were killed in Hotel Oberoi Trident and the hotel was under the control.
NSG also recovered unexploded grenades and AK-47 and the team would diffuse the unexploded ammunition.

No firing at CST station: Railway police
The Railway authorities on Friday denied that there was any new incident of firing at the Chatrapathi Shivaji railway terminus in Mumbai.
"There was no firing at Chatrapathi Shivaji railway terminus. The reports of firing at CST are nothing but rumours," Commissioner (Railway Safety) A K Sharma told reporters.

Mumbai at Gunpoint
Gunbattle continues at Taj hotel in Mumbai
A gunbattle has resumed between commandos and a sole terrorist at Taj hotel. Commandos earlier recovered 30 bodies from the hotel.
As security agencies went in for the final kill, there was fresh firing on Friday morning between terrorists and commandos of India's elite National Security Guard (NSG) at the Taj Mahal Palace and Hotel Tower and at Nariman House.
At least seven-eight rounds of fire were exchanged between security agencies and the terrorists, suspected to be hiding on the ground floor of the Taj hotel. The firing begin at 11.40 pm.
Television reporters and crew, who were barely 100 metres from the hotel building, dove for cover. Security agencies fear that the terrorists might still have one or two people in their custody.
There was similar exchange of fire at the five-storey Nariman House in Colaba where security forces have begun their final assault. Terrorists continue to hold an unspecified number of people as hostages.

At least 148 hostages, many of them foreigners, rescued from Oberoi hotel

MUMBAI: At least 148 hostages, many of them foreigners, rescued from Oberoi hotel. The group, some of whom were carrying luggage with Canadian flags on, were taken away in cars without speaking to reporters. The group included one man dressed in Chef's uniform and a small baby.

The release on Friday came as NSG commandos were assaulting a nearby Jewish center and another hotel, searching for terrorists still holed up more than a day after a chain of attacks across India's financial center by the militants left at least 130 people dead.

Earlier, Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor said all hostages inside the Taj hotel have been evacuated but refused to comment on whether the terrorists inside the hotel have been killed. Regarding terrorists holed up in the Oberoi hotel and Nariman House, Gafoor said NSG commandos are leading the operation and the situation will be brought under control soon. Gafoor said least 12 terrorists had come to Mumbai from Gujarat. One NSG commando seriously injured in Taj Hotel, says Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor. At Oberoi, no gun shots or explosions were heard since late last night as the security forces launched room-to-room searches. One NSG commando was seriously injured in Taj's eighth floor during the operations, Commissioner of Police Hassan Gafoor told PTI.

NSG, Army closing in on Nariman House; fresh explosions heard

Three fresh explosions rocked Nariman House in Mumbai on Friday morning as security forces battled hard through the night to end the siege of Taj and Trident luxury hotels by heavily-armed terrorists as the death toll in the audacious strikes in ten places across the city climbed to 127.
As NSG commandos closed in on Nariman House, a Jewish residential complex in Colaba in south Mumbai, for a final assault, two explosions within a span of ten to 15 minutes slowed down their operation. A third explosion was heard at 4.47 am.
"The operation to clean up the Nariman House is still going on," Director General of National Security Guard (NSG) J K Dutt told reporters adding "it is just a matter of time and it will end soon".
Dutt said the operations at Hotel Taj was by and large over with just one injured terrorist still holed-up in the building. "He has been injured and I think we will be able to mop up the operation there very quickly," he said.

Encounter rages on at Nariman house
Indian commandos were dropped by helicopter onto the roof of a Jewish centre in Mumbai, where suspected Islamist militants are holding at least 10 Israelis, live television pictures showed on Friday.
The Jewish Centre was one of three pockets in the country's financial capital where Indian forces were battling to flush out die-hard militants, more than 24 hours after a band of heavily armed fighters killed at least 127 people in coordinated attacks.
A Reuters witness said security forces fired into the Jewish centre, apparently to provide cover, as commandos rappeled down a rope from the helicopter.
Police said militants were also still holed up at the Taj Mahal hotel and the nearby Oberoi-Trident hotel along with an unknown number of hostages. A Reuters witness said commandos also stormed into the Oberoi-Trident on Friday morning.

Commandos battled the militants through Thursday, often room to room in the hotels, to rescue people. Flames billowed out of the buildings and loud explosions were heard during the fighting.

FOREIGNERS TARGETED

The militants appeared to specifically target Britons, Americans and Israelis, witnesses said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the attack would be met with a "vigorous response".
US President-elect Barack Obama condemned the incident. Obama, who favours a regional solution to the war in Afghanistan and is encouraging Pakistan and India to make peace over Kashmir, was monitoring the situation closely, an aide said.

Three Pakistani militants held in Mumbai: Reports
NEW DELHI: Three of the militants who attacked Mumbai have confessed they are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a newspaper reported on Friday.
Newspapers squarely blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the largest Islamist militant groups in South Asia, for the attacks that killed more than 100 people and wounded more than 300 which began late on Wednesday. NSG commandos were still battling to flush out militants in several pockets on Friday, including two luxury hotels.
Lashkar-e-Taiba denied on Thursday it had any role in the attacks, which also targeted a popular cafe, a Jewish centre and the city's main railway. However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the assault was carried out by groups based outside India, usually an allusion to Pakistan.
One of the militants was a resident of Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab province, the newspaper said, citing unidentified police investigators. "Based on the interrogation of the suspects, the investigators believe that one or more groups of Lashkar operatives left Karachi in a merchant ship early on Wednesday," the newspaper said. It said the group came ashore at Mumbai on a small boat and then split up into small teams to attack multiple locations.
Another newspaper said the group left the Pakistani port city of Karachi by sea and transferred to two small boats or rubber dinghies off Mumbai. They were seen by several residents coming ashore but allayed suspicion by saying they were students, it said.
The Times of India said the attackers were aged between 18 and 25. Each was given "an AK-47 assault rifle with two magazines each, one pistol and eight to 10 grenades suspected to have manufactured at a Pakistan ordnance factory" it said. "The equipment, training and sophistication of their planning would tend to indicate a Pakistani link," wrote strategic affairs analyst K Subrahmanyam in the Times of India. Lashkar-e-Taiba, along with another group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, made its name fighting the Indian rule in Kashmir, where state elections are underway. Both groups were closely linked in the past to the Pakistani military's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, the ISI. They were also blamed for an attack on the Parliament House in 2001 which brought the two countries close to a fourth war since independence from Britain 60 years ago.
"The possibility of rogue elements in ISI and jihadi elements in Pakistan conspiring to create tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad cannot be ruled out," Subrahmanyam wrote. Singh did not specifically name Pakistan, which has condemned the attacks and promised full cooperation. "We will take up strongly with our neighbours that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated, and that there would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken by them," Singh said in a televised address

NEWS TODAY

TERROR HITS FINANCIAL CAPITAL OF INDIA

MUMBAI: At least 101 people have been killed in attacks by gunmen in Mumbai, police said on Thursday."At least six foreigners have been killed and the death figure has gone up to 101 now," Ramesh Tayde, a senior police officer told from Mumbai's control room. In one of the most violent terror attacks on Indian soil, Mumbai came under an unprecedented night attack as terrorists used heavy machine guns, including AK-47s, and grenades to strike at the city's most high-profile targets -- the hyper-busy CST (formerly VT) rail terminus; the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway and the luxury Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point; the domestic airport at Santa Cruz; the Cama and GT hospitals near CST; the Metro Adlabs multiplex

and Mazgaon Dockyard -- killing at least 101 and

sending hundreds of injured to hospital, according to latest reports

The attacks have taken a tragic toll on the city's top police brass: The high-profile chief of the anti-terror squad Hemant Karkare was killed; Mumbai's additional commissioner of police (east)

Ashok Kamte was gunned down outside the Metro; and celebrated encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar was also killed

The attacks appeared to be aimed at getting international attention as the terrorists took upto 40 British nationals and other foreigners hostage. The chairman of Hindustan Unilever Harish Manwani and CEO of the company Nitin Paranjpe were among the guests trapped at the Oberoi. All the internal board members of the multinational giant were reported to be holed up in the Oberoi hotel.

Two terrorists were reported holed up inside the Oberoi Hotel. Fresh firing has been reported at Oberoi and Army has entered the hotel to flush out the terrorists. An unknown outfit, Deccan Mujahideen, has sent an email to news organizations claiming that it carried out the Mumbai attacks.

The Army and Navy in Mumbai were put on alert. 65 Army commandos and 200 NSG commandos were being rushed to Mumbai, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said. The Navy commandos too have been asked to assist the police. Special secretary M L Kumawat is in constant touch with the state police.

Some media reports attributed the attack to Lashkar-e-Taiba. There were also unconfirmed reports that some of the terrorists came in by sea. A boat laden with explosives was recovered later at night off the Gateway of India. Well after midnight, sources said two of the terrorists were shot and wounded at Girgaum in south Mumbai. The two were driving in a commandeered silver-coloured Skoda car. Earlier, these men had sprayed bullets from a police Bolero, outside the Metro Adlabs multiplex.

The attacks occurred at the busiest places. Besides hotels and hospitals, terrorists struck at railway stations, Crawford Market, Wadi Bunder and on the Western Express Highway near the airport. Several of these places are within a one-km radius of the commissioner of police's office. "This is definitely a terrorist strike. Seven places have been attacked with automatic weapons and grenades. Terrorists are still holed up in three locations Taj and Oberoi hotels and GT Hospital. Encounters are on at all three places," said Maharashtra DGP A N Roy.

St George's Hospital and G T Hospital were said to have received 75 bodies and more than 250 injured people, additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev said. Bombay Hospital got two bodies and 30 injured people were admitted there; Cooper Hospital, Vile Parle, got three dismembered bodies. Three of the deaths occurred inside the Taj and one G T Hospital attendant died in a shootout inside the hospital. There were reports of people cowering under tables and chairs at both the Taj as well as G T Hospital.

Metro Junction resident Manoj Goel said: "My brother, Manish, died in the firing at Colaba's Hamaal Galli." Cops fired back at the men -- probably from one of the Lashkar groups, dressed in black and with backpacks and SRPF, Crime Branch, ATS and teams of military commandos were summoned to the spot. Train services at CST were suspended and all roads leading to and from south Mumbai were blockaded.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh cut short his Kerala visit and was returning to Mumbai. He described the situation in Mumbai as "very serious".

Deshmukh promised "stringent action" against the assailants but the mood across Mumbai was not so optimistic. There were reports of firing around several landmark buildings in the Colaba-Nariman Point area, including the Taj hotel, Oberoi and other tourist attractions and pubs like Leopold's. The top floor of Oberoi was said to be on fire amid reports of blasts in the area and blood-smeared bodies were being brought out of the Taj lobby.

Terrorists were said to be holed up at the Taj as well as G T Hospital and cops scampered to cordon off these places. A white flag was seen fluttering from an Oberoi Hotel window around 11.20 pm, where a blast was said to have occurred. The blast on the Western Express Highway -- near Centaur Hotel outside the airport -- occurred in a taxi, deputy commissioner of police Nissar Tamboli said.

The firing and bombing started close to the Gateway of India. The gunbattle then moved on towards CST and raged on for over an hour from 10 pm, sending commuters running out of the station. The assailants also fired into the crowd at CST and people on the trains and then ran out of the station themselves and into neighbouring buildings, including Cama Hospital, after being challenged by cops.

SRPF personnel then entered the iconic BMC building -- just opposite CST -- to take aim at the assailants, BMC commissioner Jairaj Phatak said. "We fear some of the assailants are still inside the station and we want to catch them if they come out,'' a police official said. Vikhroli police station senior inspector Habib Ansari was on his way to work from his Colaba home when he saw two armed men, with sophisticated weaponry, trying to run into bylanes near the Gateway of India."I rushed back to Colaba and all policemen, including GRP and RPF personnel, were called up," he added.