Indian forces end Mumbai siege

MUMBAI, India – Indian commandos killed the last remaining gunmen holed up at a luxury Mumbai hotel Nov. 29, ending a 60-hour rampage through India's financial capital by suspected Islamic militants that left at least 172 people dead and rocked the nation.

Orange flames and black smoke engulfed the landmark 400-room Taj Mahal hotel after dawn as Indian forces ended the siege in a hail of gunfire just hours after elite commandos stormed a Jewish centre and found six hostages dead.

At least 172 people were killed and several hundred wounded in the violence that started when more than a dozen assailants attacked 10 sites across Mumbai on Nov. 26. Among the dead were 28 foreigners.

"The Taj operation is over. The last two terrorists holed up there have been killed," Mumbai Police Chief Hasan Ghafoor said. Director General of India's elite National Security Guard commando unit J.K. Dutt told reporters outside the hotel that his forces would continue to search and clear the hotel.

The bodies of New York Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah, were found at the Jewish centre. Their son, Moshe, who turned two years old on Saturday, was scooped up by an employee as she fled the building.

Authorities scrambled to identify those responsible for the unprecedented attack, with some Indian officials pointing across the border at Pakistan, and Pakistani leaders promising to cooperate in the investigation. A team of U.S. FBI agents has been ordered to fly to India to help investigate.

On Nov. 28, commandos killed the last two gunmen inside the luxury Oberoi hotel, where 24 bodies had been found, authorities said. Dozens of people, including a man clutching a baby and about 20 airline crewmembers, were evacuated from the Oberoi.

As fighting stretched into a fourth day, the Taj Mahal hotel was wracked by hours of intermittent gunfire and explosions, even though authorities said earlier they cleared it of gunmen.

Indian forces launched grenades and traded gunfire with what authorities believed to be one or two militants holed up in the ballroom. What appeared to be a black-clad figure toppled from a first-floor window, but further details were unavailable.

By the evening of Nov. 28, at least nine gunmen had been killed and one arrested, said a top official of Maharashtra state, the capital of which is Mumbai.

In the most dramatic of the counter strikes, masked Indian commandos rappelled from a helicopter to the rooftop of the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish centre as snipers laid down cover fire.

For nearly 12 hours, explosions and gunfire erupted from the five-story building as the commandos fought their way downward, while thousands of people gathered behind barricades in the streets to watch. The assault blew huge holes in the centre, and at one point Indian forces fired a rocket at the building. Soon after, elated commandos ran outside with their rifles raised over their heads in a sign of triumph.

But inside Chabad House was a tragic scene.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Israel's Channel 1 TV that the bodies of three women and three men were found at the centre. Some of the victims had been bound, Barak said. Local media reports, quoting top military officials, said two gunmen were found dead in the building.

The attackers were well-prepared, apparently scouting some targets ahead of time and carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy during a long siege. One rucksack found contained 400 rounds of ammunition.

The gunmen moved skilfully through the blood-slickened corridors of the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, switching off lights to confuse the commandos.

Authorities were working to find out who was behind the attacks, which have been claimed by a previously unknown group which calls itself the “Deccan Mujahideen.”

India's foreign minister said the blame appeared to point to Pakistan. "According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks," Pranab Mukherjee told reporters.

India's Home Minister Jaiprakash Jaiswal said a captured gunman had been identified as a Pakistani.

R. Patil, a Maharashtra state official, told AP, "It is very clear that the terrorists are from Pakistan. We have enough evidence that they are from Pakistan."

Pakistani Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar denied involvement by his country. "I will say in very categoric terms that Pakistan is not involved in these gory incidents."

[AP]