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ShareMUMBAI: Terror, unimaginable terror, returned to Mumbai's streets on Wednesday night, killing over 200 people, including Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner of police Ashok Kamte, and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar. All three died fighting the terrorists.
The obvious aim of the terrorists was to overawe the police force and bring the country's commercial hub to a standstill.
Moving about in groups of twos and threes, the terrorists struck with impunity all over the city, setting off coordinated multiple blasts and gunfire in a dozen areas across the metropolis, including the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station and two five star hotels - the Oberoi and the Taj. Guests were still being held hostage in the two hotels as commando forces were trying hard to retrieve the situation.
As indiscriminate firing and explosions at iconic landmarks showed no signs of easing after the first attack at Leopold restaurant in Colaba at about 9.30pm, the army was moved in while 200 NSG commandoes were rushed to Mumbai from Delhi. Mumbai has been cordoned off and people going home on Wednesday night were frequently stopped for checking.
The terrorists, who apparently arrived by sea with their explosives (their boat was later found by customs officers), did not even spare hospitals like GT and Cama, where gunfire was reported. Police and eyewitnesses said AK-47s, rifles and hand grenades were used at will by an unspecified number of terrorists.
Foreigners and policemen appeared to have been the main targets. Though no guesses were made about the identities of the terrorists, eyewitnesses said some of them spoke Arabic, and included Nigerian or Somali mercenaries.
Two suspected terrorists escaping in a Skoda car were gunned down after an encounter with police in the Girgaum area. Several live bombs were also defused.
By midnight, around 60 bodies and over 200 injured persons were brought to St George's Hospital, hospital sources said. More were arriving by the hour.
Police said terrorists were still holed up at the Oberoi and Taj and commandos had entered the two luxury hotels. The encounter continued well past 2am, nearly four hours after the luxury hotels were targeted. The two hotels were rocked by multiple blasts. There were at least two explosions in the dome of the Taj.
The lobby of the Oberoi hotel was ablaze. There were reports that there might be a hostage-like situation. Scores of hotel guests were also evacuated.
Armed with AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades, and other explosives, the terrorists also attacked the CST station, where suburban services were suspended in the wake of the attacks. Police cordoned off all the places of attack, immobilising the entire city.
At CST station, a couple of terrorists entered the passenger hall and opened fire with AK-47 rifles and threw grenades, Government Railway Police commissioner AK Sharma said. This strike claimed 40 lives in the station premises alone, police said, including four policemen.
Eyewitnesses said the terrorists entered the station building from outside the reservation counter and opened fire indiscriminately. They then moved inside a train and continued to fire at people, killing some and injuring many.
Maharashtra director-general of police AN Roy confirmed that "the suspected terrorists struck in a number of places. At some places, they had opened fire and disappeared."
The first attacks apparently happened in the city's southern-most tip of Colaba, near Leopold Café. Firing was also reported at Cama Hospital in South Mumbai, police said, adding that a blast was reported in a taxi under a flyover in suburban Vile Parle.
Three persons were killed in a bomb explosion in a taxi near Dockyard Road.
