Alright, so the Oberoi hotel and the Nariman house has been secured. Great. But the sad news is 5 hostages were killed before they could be rescued. The whole operation started today around 7 pm, when specially trained commandos were dropped on the top of Nariman House, with a chopper.
Meanwhile 2 NSG men have been killed, whereas 6 are wounded while battling terrorists. The Death toll rose to 143 alongwith 288 injured.
The gun battling still continues at Taj Heritage and Taj Palace, which are said to be equipped by around 3-4 more terrorists. The operation is said to be in its final stages and is supposed to end till early morning.
Its turning out to be more devastating than i thought.. after hundreds of casualties and majority of hostages freed from the Taj and Oberoi, it seems there are more hostages still held inside. The number of terrorists is around 15-20, as told by some freed hostages.
The joint operation of Army/NSG/Police, at Taj and Oberoi, is likely to continue till tomorrow morning, as told by Major General of Army, at the time of writing this. I hope no more casualties occur as far as Hostages are concerned.
Regarding Nariman House, NSG Team is going to break into the house ASAP, they most probably entered as i write this, and they will try to complete the operation with success.
And for the Terrorists, i hope they die and rot in hell.
Last night after India beat England in the fifth one dayer to lead the series 5-0, i tuned into the news channels just to know what is going on. I was expecting to see Cricket experts giving their views as on why England is failing so miserably in this tour...
But what i saw on the channels stunned me. Mumbai was suffering from the biggest terrorist attack ever on India. Terrorists used heavy machine guns, AK47s, Grenades to take over the city's most high profile places - the hyper-busy Chhatrapati Shivji Railway Terminal; the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway of India 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.
What is more pathetic is, three top police personnels have died fighting with the terrorists alongwith 11 other police officers. This include ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, who was in the news recently because of teh investigation of Malegaon blasts; Encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, who has killed more than 100 dreaded criminals; and Assistant Commisioner of Police, Ashok Kamte.
Karkare (54), IPS officer of the 1982 batch, had served in RAW for nine years and was made the ATS chief in January this year. He had solved the serial bomb blasts in Thane, Vashi and Panvel. The credit for the stunning revelations in the investigation of the September 29 blast in Malegaon goes to his credit. Karkare is known for his discipline and fair investigation. He was gunned down when he was leading an operation at Hotel Taj against terrorists who had taken 15 people, including seven foreigners, as hostages. He was hit by three bullets in his chest.
Vijay Salaskar, officer of the 1983 batch, had till recently killed around 100 dreaded criminals in police encounters. After being out of the spotlight for quite sometime, the encounter specialist was given the plum posting of heading the anti-extortion wing of the crime branch. He was killed while fighting terrorists at Metro Cinema in the city alongwith DCP Ashok Kamte.
Ashok Kamte was the DCP, Zone 1, in Mumbai and was also the key officer in state police. He had also served as the commissioner of Solapur and was always known to be in the thick of action. He was killed while fighting terrorists at Metro Cinema in the city.
The news of officers going down makes me sad. Though they died serving the country..
Moreover the news has just arrived that the terrified England team has decided to abandon the remaining tour. there were still 2 ODIs and 2 Tests remaining to be played. With this the upcoming Champions League too seems to be in Danger. Sad.
After Jumbo, its Dada...
I was like stunned, when Saurav Ganguly announced his retirement. What the fuck?
Totally unexpected. What a great player...
Last year when he was dropped from the India ODI Squad in Australia, instead of being the highest run scorer for India in that calendar year, that was the first time since many years, and last time till today, i cried.. The fucking selectors...
You were the greatest Left handed Batsman, India ever got. And the best Captain ever. I salute you.
Sad. Anil 'Jumbo' Kumble...
No bowler in history won India more Test matches than Anil Kumble.. A true fighter, from his debut in Manchester against England in 1990 to bowling a stirring spell in Antigua in 2002, with a fractured jaw and to his last ball where he was hit by Matthew Hayden to a boundary, straight down the ground...
You will be remembered always... :(