Last Mumbai hotel cleared by Indian authorities

MUMBAI, India—Authorities finished removing bodies from the bullet- and grenade-scarred Taj Mahal hotel Dec. 1, the final site of the Mumbai siege to be cleared, as schools and businesses reopened and commuters returned to work.

Security forces had been scouring the 565-room hotel for booby traps and bodies, and declared the landmark building cleared two days after they killed the last three militants holed up inside following a three-day rampage in India's financial centre that left at least 172 dead.

The army had already cleared other sites, including the five-star Oberoi hotel and the Mumbai headquarters of an Orthodox Jewish group. Israeli emergency workers sorted through the debris to gather the victims' remains, and evidence. At one point, one of the men opened a prayer book amid the rubble and stopped to pray.

The only gunman captured after the attacks, Ajmal Qasab, said he belonged to “Lashkar-e-Taiba,” a Pakistani militant group with links to the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, said Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria.

Qasab was among 10 terrorists who carried out the attack, which also wounded 239 people. India's top law enforcement official resigned Nov. 30, bowing to growing criticism that the attackers appeared better coordinated and better armed than police.

The announcement blaming militant group “Lashkar-e-Taiba” threatened to escalate tensions between India and Pakistan. However, Indian officials have been cautious about accusing Pakistan's government of complicity.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash denied a news report that India was preparing to end a 2003 cease-fire with Pakistan. An intelligence official said there was no unusual mobilisation of troops along the India-Pakistan border.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised to strengthen maritime and air security and look into creating a new federal investigative agency.

In the first wave of the attacks, two young gunmen armed with assault rifles blithely ignored more than 60 police officers patrolling the city's main train station and sprayed bullets into the crowd. Assistant Commissioner of the Mumbai railway police Bapu Thombre said the police were armed mainly with batons or antiquated rifles.

With no SWAT team in the city of 18 million, authorities called in the only unit in the country trained to deal with such crises. But the National Security Guards, which largely devotes its resources to protecting top officials, is based outside of New Delhi and it took the commandos nearly 10 hours to reach the scene.

That gave the gunmen time to consolidate control over two luxury hotels and the Jewish centre.

Singh promised to expand the commando force and set up new bases for it around the country. He called a rare meeting of leaders from the country's main political parties, hours after the resignation of Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

Among the 19 foreigners killed were Americans, Germans, Canadians, Israelis and nationals from Britain, Italy, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia, Singapore and Mexico.

[AP]