Trident to re-open on Sunday 21st December '08

The Trident Hotel in Mumbai which was one of the targets of the 26/11 attacks is all set to reopen for its guests on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference, president of the Trident Hotel Ratan Keswani said that the hotel will hold a private prayer meet on Sunday in memory of those who lost their lives.

He also said that the Oberoi Hotel will take some time to reopen as there was a lot of restoration work to be done.

Keswani urged everyone to put behind them, the horrific attacks and said that whether the hotels were informed or not does not matter now.

He said that the hotel is working with a security agency to improve security standards.

PTI adds:The hotel expects at least 100 rooms to be occupied the same day.

The group's other hotel -- the Oberoi -- would, however, take six to seven months to reopen.

The group said that while the damage to the Oberoi is to the tune of Rs 40 to 50 crore, the Trident suffered damage of around Rs 40 to 50 lakh.

He said all the damages suffered by both the Oberoi and the Trident are covered by insurance. The group has also received Rs 25 crore as advance from one of the insurance company's for rebuilding and recovery work.

He added: "I would like to thank New India Assurance.

They have already released Rs 25 crore advances to help in our restoration effort."

"We are working with the insurance agencies to calculate the loss of profit (due to the damage and the subsequent closure)," he said.

He added that the hotel has faced "reasonably heavy" cancellation in bookings.

"Although bookings have been slow for now, we expect at least 100 rooms to be occupied tomorrow. The pace of bookings would hopefully increase with the passage of time," Trident Hotel President Rattan Keswani said.

The rate of cancellations in bookings is around 30 to 35 per cent.

Keswani added that the hotel would not be having any special New Year's or Christmas party this year although guests would be offered special menu for lunch and dinner.

Mumbai siege ends as last terrorist killed

Indian commandos today killed the last remaining gunmen holed up at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, ending a 60-hour rampage that killed 195 people in India's financial capital.

Orange flames and black smoke engulfed the landmark 565-room luxury hotel after dawn Saturday as Indian forces ended the siege there in a hail of gunfire, just hours after elite commandos stormed a Jewish center and found nine hostages dead.

"There were three terrorists, we have killed them," said JK Dutt, director general of India's elite National Security Guard commando unit.

Some hotel guests were still believed to be in their rooms. "They are still scared, so even when we request them to come out and identify ourselves, they are naturally afraid," Dutt said.
With the end of one of the most brazen terror attacks in India's history, authorities have now shifted their focus to who is behind the attacks.

A previously unknown Muslim group has claimed responsibility and it has been reported that two of the militants were British-born Pakistanis but the Foreign Office, investigating a possible British link, said no evidence had been found.

Indian officials said the sole surviving gunman was from Pakistan and pointed a finger of blame at their neighbour, Islamabad who have denied involvement and promised to help in the investigation. A team of FBI agents has been sent to India to aid the investigations.

Some 295 people were wounded in the violence that started when at least a dozen heavily armed assailants attacked 10 sites across Mumbai on Wednesday night. At least 20 soldiers and police were among the dead.

Six Americans were killed, according to the US Embassy, along with foreigners from Britain, Germany, Canada, Israel, Italy, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia and Singapore.

With 195 people dead across the city, the event was the deadliest attack in India since the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai which killed 257 people. However, the toll from the past three days of caranage is expected to rise, according to officials, as more bodies are brought out of the hotel.

"There is a limit a city can take. This is a very, very different kind of fear. It will be some time before things get back to normal," said Ayesha Dar, a 33-year-old homemaker.

Indians began burying their dead, many of them security force members killed fighting the gunmen. In the southern city of Bangalore, black clad commandos formed an honor guard for the flag-draped coffin of Maj. Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who was killed in the fighting at the Taj Mahal hotel.

"He gave up his own life to save the others," Dutt said from Mumbai.

Today the Indian navy is investigating whether a trawler found drifting off the coast of Mumbai, with a bound corpse on board, was used in the attack.

Navy spokesman Captain Manohar Nambiar said the trawler, named Kuber, had been found Thursday and was brought to Mumbai. Officials said they believe the boat had sailed from a port in the neighboring state of Gujarat.

Indian security officers believe many of the gunmen may have reached the city using a black and yellow rubber dinghy found near the site of the attacks.

Meanwhile, Pakistan today withdrew an offer to send its spy chief to India to help investigate the attacks, damaging efforts to head off a crisis between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Indian officials have linked the attacks to "elements" in Pakistan, raising the prospect of a breakdown in painstaking peace talks between South Asian rivals.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani insisted on Friday that his country was not involved in the carnage and promised to help identify and apprehend those responsible by sending the head of the Inter Services Intelligence agency to aid the investigation.

However, Zahid Bashir, a spokesman for Gilani, today said that decision had been changed and that a lower-ranking intelligence official would travel instead.

He declined to explain the about-face, which followed sharp criticism from some Pakistani opposition politicians and a cool response from the army, which controls the spy agency.

Hostages said dead in Mumbai Jewish center

MUMBAI, India — Commandos who stormed the Mumbai headquarters of an ultra-orthodox Jewish group found the bodies of five hostages inside, including a New York rabbi and his wife, officials said, as a fresh battle raged at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel and other Indian forces ended a siege at another five-star hotel.

More than 150 people have been killed since gunmen attacked 10 sites across India's financial capital starting Wednesday night, including 22 foreigners - four of them Americans, officials said.

Early Friday night, Indian commandos emerged from a besieged Jewish center with rifles raised in an apparent sign of victory after a daylong siege that saw a team rappel from helicopters and a series of explosions and fire rock the building and blow giant holes in the wall.

Inside, though, were five dead hostages.

A delegation from Israel's ZAKA emergency medical services unit entered the building after the raid and reported through an Indian aide that five hostages and two gunmen were dead, a ZAKA spokesman in Israel said. The spokesman had no information on the hostages' identities or whether there were wounded inside.

Jewish law requires the burial of a dead person's entire body, and the mission of the ultra-Orthodox ZAKA volunteers is to rescue the living - and in the case of the dead, carry out the task of gathering up all collectable pieces of flesh and blood.

Numerous local media reports, quoting top military officials, also said five hostages and two gunmen had been killed in the Jewish center.

The airborne assault on the center run by the Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch was punctuated by gunshots and explosions as forces cleared it floor by floor.

Late Friday, Rabbi Zalman Schmotkin, a spokesman for the Chabad Lubavitch movement, said that Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, were among the dead.

The couple's toddler son, Moshe Holtzberg, was smuggled out of the center by an employee, and is now with his grandparents.

By Friday evening, at least nine gunmen had been killed and one had been arrested, said R. Patil, a top official in Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is the capital. Media reports said one or two were thought to still be in the Taj Mahal.

Patil said a total of more than 150 people had been killed and 370 injured.

After hours of intermittent gunfire and explosions Friday at the Taj Mahal, a hotel with 565 rooms, the battle heated up at dusk when Indian forces began launching grenades at the hotel, where at least one militant was believed to be holed up inside a ballroom, officials said.

Commandos had killed the two last gunmen inside the nearby Oberoi earlier in the day.

"The hotel is under our control," J.K. Dutt, director general of India's elite National Security Guard commando unit, told reporters, adding that 24 bodies had been found. Dozens of people - including a man clutching a baby - had been evacuated from Oberoi earlier Friday.

Security officials said their operations were almost over.

"It's just a matter of a few hours that we'll be able to wrap up things," Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj told reporters Friday morning.

The group rescued from the Oberoi, many holding passports, included at least two Americans, a Briton, two Japanese nationals and several Indians. Some carried luggage with Canadian flags. One man in a chef's uniform was holding a small baby. About 20 airline crew members were freed, including staff from Lufthansa and Air France.

"I'm going home, I'm going to see my wife," said Mark Abell, with a huge smile on his face after emerging from the hotel. Abell, from Britain, had locked himself in his room during the siege.

The well-coordinated strikes by small bands of gunmen starting Wednesday night left the city shell-shocked.

Late Thursday, after about 400 people had been brought out of the Taj hotel, officials said it had been cleared of gunmen, but they later said two to three more were still inside with about 15 civilians.

Early Friday, Thamburaj, the security official, said at least one gunman was still alive inside the hotel and had cut of electricity on the floor where he was hiding. Shortly after that announcement, another round of explosions and gunfire were heard coming from the hotel.

On Friday, India's foreign minister pointed an accusing finger across the border at rival Pakistan.

"According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for Mumbai terror attacks," Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in the western city of Jodhpur.

"Proof cannot be disclosed at this time," he said, adding that Pakistan had assured New Delhi it would not allow its territory to be used for attacks against India. India has long accused Islamabad of allowing militant Muslim groups, particularly those fighting in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, to train and take shelter in Pakistan. Mukherjee's carefully phrased comments appeared to indicate he was accusing Pakistan-based groups of staging the attack, and not Pakistan itself.

Earlier Friday, Pakistan's Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, in Islamabad, denied involvement by his country: "I will say in very categoric terms that Pakistan is not involved in these gory incidents."

Indian home minister Jaiprakash Jaiswal said a captured gunmen had been identified as a Pakistani and Patil, the Maharashtra state official, said: "It is very clear that the terrorists are from Pakistan. We have enough evidence that they are from Pakistan."

Neither provided further details.

Pakistan's government said Friday that it will send its spy chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, to India to help probe the attacks.

The gunmen apparently came to Mumbai by boat, and Indian forces expanded their investigation to the sea. Authorities stopped a cargo ship off the western coast of Gujarat that had sailed from Saudi Arabia and handed it over to police for investigation, said Navy Capt. Manohar Nambiar.

They also stopped a cargo ship that had come to Mumbai from Karachi, Pakistan, but released it when nothing suspicious was found on board.

The British government, meanwhile, was investigating whether some of the attackers could be British citizens with links to Pakistan or the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, a British security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his work.

The gunmen were well-prepared, apparently scouting some targets ahead of time and carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy.

"It's obvious they were trained somewhere ... Not everyone can handle the AK series of weapons or throw grenades like that," an unidentified member of India's Marine Commando unit told reporters, his face wrapped in a black mask. He said the men were "very determined and remorseless" and ready for a long siege. One backpack they found had 400 rounds of ammunition inside.

He said the Taj was filled with terrified civilians, making it very difficult for the commandos to fire on the gunmen.

"To try and avoid civilian casualties we had to be so much more careful," he said, adding that hotel was a grim sight. "Bodies were strewn all over the place, and there was blood everywhere."

A U.S. investigative team was heading to Mumbai, a State Department official said Thursday evening, speaking on condition of anonymity because the U.S. and Indian governments were still working out final details.

India has been shaken repeatedly by terror attacks blamed on Muslim militants in recent years, but most were bombings striking crowded places: markets, street corners, parks. Mumbai - one of the most populated cities in the world with some 18 million people - was hit by a series of bombings in July 2006 that killed 187 people.

These attacks were more sophisticated - and more brazen.

They began at about 9:20 p.m. with shooters spraying gunfire across the Chhatrapati Shivaji railroad station, one of the world's busiest terminals. For the next two hours, there was an attack roughly every 15 minutes - the Jewish center, a tourist restaurant, one hotel, then another, and two attacks on hospitals. There were 10 targets in all.

Hostages freed from Mumbai hotel after terror ordeal

About 93 people, many of them foreigners, emerged from Mumbai's Trident/Oberoi hotel on Friday, more than 36 hours after gunmen stormed the building and took hostages, an AFP photographer said.

The group, some of whom were carrying luggage with Canadian flags on, were taken away in cars without speaking to reporters.

The guests, including one carrying a baby, were ushered on to waiting minibuses by police before being driven away, the photographer said.

Earlier, at least 17 commandos abseiled from a helicopter into the Jewish centre in Mumbai taken by Islamic militants, and explosions have been heard.

- Forces storm Jewish centre
- Abseiling from helicopters
- Some remain trapped

The centre was one of several targets in the city attacked by Islamic terrorists. Officials said hostages, including Israelis, were believed to be held in the building.

Witnesses said the first group of seven special forces soldiers crouched on the roof of the building as the helicopter returned to drop 10 more military personnel.

Intermittent loud explosions were heard from inside the building.

Seven hostages were rescued from the complex late on Thursday, Indian security officials said.

The building was one of at least 10 sites targeted by gunmen who launched coordinated attacks in India's financial capital on Wednesday evening.

Inside is a Jewish prayer and study centre run by the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch movement, offering drug prevention services as well as doubling up as a hostel for tourists and backpackers.

A cook at the centre told an Israeli newspaper how she escaped with its directors' two-year-old son.

Sandra Samuel, 44, told Haaretz she had barricaded herself in a first-floor room for 12 hours after the gunmen entered the building.

She only dared to peer outside when she heard the cries of a small child through the door.

"I just grabbed the baby and ran out,'' said Samuel, adding that the centre's caretaker Zakir Hussein, 22, who had been hiding with her, escaped with them.

It was unclear whether the directors were among those still being held inside.

Key developments in the Mumbai terror attack

• Commandos enter the fourth floor of Nariman House. Two loud explosions heard from inside the building(08:25am)
• Commados closing in on Nariman House; Final stages of operation(08:16)
• Another grenade blast on the fourth floor of Nariman house(08:06am)
• Five commandos land in choppers atop Nariman house where the terrorists are suspected to be holed up(7:27am, Friday)
• Powerful explosion at Taj hotel (00.47)
• Gunshots heard from inside Oberoi hotel where terrorists are holding around 35 people hostage. (00:47)
• Three top police officers, ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, Additional CP Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay
• Salaskar were travelling in a jeep near CST when they came under fire from terrorists, says Deshmukh. (00.47)
• Three more rounds of gunshots heard from inside the old building of Taj hotel. (00:25 (28/11/)
• All but one terrorist killed in Taj hotel: NSG (00.16 (28/11)
• Seven hostages rescued from Nariman House (00.01 (28/11)
• Another grenade blast in Oberoi hotel. (At 22.30)
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh holds meeting with Maharashtra Governor S C Jamir, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh here. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and National Security Adviser were also present. (At 22.15)
• One round of gunshot fired in Nariman House. (At 22.15)
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits JJ Hospital to enquire about the condition of those injured in the terror attacks (At 9.30 pm)
• Another explosion in the first floor of the old building of Taj hotel and several rounds of gunshot heard. Military personnel taking position around the hotel.
• Another grenade blast in Trident (Oberoi) hotel (At 9 pm)
• Taj Hotels GM's wife, children killed in terrorist attack
• Terrorist attacks happened due to intelligence failure, says Leader of Opposition L K Advani.
• UK sending anti-terrorism experts to Mumbai: Brown
• Home Minister Shivraj Patil must go: Bardhan
• Fire at Trident (Oberoi) hotel (At 8 pm)
• Mumbai attacks had some al-Qaeda hallmarks: Britain
• Indian naval official will not rule out Somali pirates' role
• At least 7 hostages rescued from Oberoi hotel. (At 7 pm)
• Seven terrorists killed in Mumbai, says Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
• Railway ADGP K. P. Raghuvanshi given temporary charge of ATS. (At 6 pm)
• The groups behind attacks in Mumbai are based outside the country, says Prime Minister
• Manmohan Singh. Multiple explosions heard at old building of Taj Hotel.
• Thirty five people held as hostages inside Oberoi Hotel. (At 5.30 pm)
• Indian Navy locates the ship M V Alpha used by the terrorists
• Third grenade blast heard from Trident Hotel
• Jewish priest Gabriel among hostages held at Nariman House, police say. (At 5 pm)
• Explosions heard inside Taj hotel also.
• Grenade blast heard from Nariman House, where 6 terrorists are holed up.
• 9 foreigners among 101 killed in Mumbai terror attacks
• All people trapped in Taj Hotel rescued, says DGP A.N.Roy.
• 200 more NSG commandos being sent to Mumbai: NSG spokesperson.
• Hand-grenades lobbed from Oberoi Hotel.
• Security forces and holed up terrorists exchange fire in Nariman House. One terrorist killed, 6 more ultras suspected to be inside the building, says police.
• Maharashtra government annonces Rs 5 lakh compensation to the kin of those killed in the terror attacks. Rs 50,000 will be paid to the seriously injured.

Huge explosion at Taj again, 9 rescued from Trident

Three fresh explosions have been reported at the Taj hotel in Mumbai and rescue operations are on.

Around 10-12 terrorists are still holed up in Trident hotel and have taken many hostage. Some of them are Israeli and Canadian nationals. Nine people have been rescued from the Trident.

More than 100 people have been killed, including nine foreigners and at least 287 injured in a series of well-coordinated terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Terrorists, who apparently came in by boats, struck at 10 places in south Mumbai including five-star hotels, hospitals and train stations.

However, Maharashtra Police claim that there is no hostage-like situation at the Taj.

Speaking to NDTV, Maharashtra Director General of Police A N Roy said, "There is no indication so far of the identity of the terrorists."

He said that the terrorists were highly armed, level of weapons and training suggest that they are not locals. He said, "There is hostage situation at Trident and the police were trying to capture the ultras alive."

"Fifty per cent operation is complete at Taj. There is no hostage-like situation at Taj anymore," he further said.

According to sources, terrorists have demanded the release of prisoners, ransom and the government may be negotiating with the terrorists.

Four Navy ships and choppers have launched search over Gujarat-Goa seas. Navy and Coast Guard are conducting joint search for the ship that may have carried the militants.

Credit cards with photos of militants have been seized by the Naval Commandos.

Naval commandos have seized grenades, AK 47 magazines, shells and knives from militants.

Earlier, NSG and Military Commandos entered the Taj and Trident hotels. Five terrorists have been killed. Several staff members at the hotels have also been killed, including two at Trident.

NSG Commandos launched operations in the Nariman House building in Colaba too. This was the second place that was attacked in Mumbai. Two men came on a scooter and hurled a grenade at nearby petrol pump.

Though the grenade missed the petrol reservoir, it destroyed a facade of the station. The terrorists then ran into Nariman House building behind petrol pump into a Jewish residential building. Here, the terrorists murdered two people and then went silent for several hours till early this morning. This is another place apart from the Taj and the Trident, which are under siege.

Policemen were able to successfully flush out terrorists from the Cama hospital and everything seems to be calm now. Curfew has been imposed at Colaba and Gateway of India. At least 800 Army personnel have been deployed at various locations in Mumbai.

At least 14 policemen have been killed across the city, including the head of the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad Hemant Karkare, who was shot three times.

Well-known encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar is also dead. Additional Commissioner of Police Sadanand Date is critical. Every top line anti-terror force in the country has been pushed into Mumbai including commandos of the National Security Guard, Marine Commandos and Army commandos.

There are also reports of low intensity blast in Ville Parle and grenade attack in Santa Cruz. Two blasts have been reported in Napean Sea road area of south Mumbai.

Many foreigners have been held hostage by the terrorists. "Gunmen took 15 hostages and half of them foreigners," said an eye-witness at Taj hotel.

"Gunmen wanted anyone with British or American passport," said another eye-witness.

Five terrorists are killed, two escaped and nine have been arrested. An unknown organisation called the Deccan Mujahideen has taken the responsibility for the terror attacks.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has addressed the nation and he also called an emergency Cabinet meeting. Home Minister Shivraj Patil is back in Delhi from Mumbai.

Cabinet Committee on Security met before the full Cabinet meet. The Prime Minister's election rally in Delhi scheduled for Thursday was also cancelled.

Maharashtra government has announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for those killed and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured in the attacks.

Speaking to NDTV, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil said, "There is no plan for talks with the terrorists. Claiming to have some "vital leads", the minister expressed confidence of a breakthrough soon.

Intelligence sources say that foreign hand is fully evident in these attacks. They have arrested a Pakistan national from Chowpatty area in the city.

Police have seized a rubber boat, which anchored off Mumbai harbour. It all started with incidents of firing in Colaba and near CST station.

Meanwhile, train services have resumed at the CST station. Lufthansa, Northwest and Air France have cancelled their flights.

On their part, hotels in Mumbai have been asked not to take new guests.

Places attacked:

Trident Hotel, Taj Hotel, Nariman House, Wadi Bunder, Cama hospital, GT hospital, VT station, Bootleggers pub, Girgaum and Metro cinema.

Terrorists attacked Mumbai, 127 killed, 350 injured

Mumbai, India: November 27, 2008, IR Summary/ Agencies/TOI – Big battle is going on between the Army commandoes at Nariman House and Trident (Oberoi) hotel in Mumbai. At the Taj hotel, hostages have been rescued as per Maharashtra DGP A N Roy. However, battle continues. A blast is also reported at Nariman House.

One terrorist was holed up inside Nariman House in south Mumbai has been killed, as per police sources.

An unspecified number of foreigners including Americans, Israelis and Canadians are thought to be among those in the hotels and in Nariman House, a residential complex with an old Jewish prayer hall.

Firing is also going on at Oberoi hotel. Series of blasts are reportedly heard at the hotel. Hostages are still held by terrorists inside the hotel are being used as a human shield according to reports. The Army has entered the hotel to flush out the terrorists.

The operation at Trident was being carried out very carefully to ensure there were no civilian casualties, Maharashtra DGP A N Roy said adding there could be some hostages though the exact number was not known.

The deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, R R Patil, has said that there could be between 100 and 200 guests and workers trapped in the Trident-Oberoi Hotel, with 10-12 militants also inside.

"There could be 100-200 people inside the hotel, but we cannot give you the exact figure as many people have locked themselves inside their rooms," RR Patil told reporters.

"There could be 10-12 terrorists inside the hotel. There are no negotiations with the terrorists."

The terrorists are believed to have come in a boat to the Gateway of India, opposite Taj hotel, as fresh explosions rocked the two hotels after the night of terror targeting ten places.
The reports are still continuing from different sources, however, the fierce battle is going on.