Not enough explosives with terrorists to blow up Taj: NSG chief

NEW DELHI: The terrorists did not appear to have plans to blow up the Taj heritage hotel as they lacked enough explosives for it, Director General NSG J K Dutt said here on Sunday.
      
The amount of explosives recovered from them does not indicate that they could bring down the building, he said after arriving from Mumbai.
      
During the "Operation Cyclone" carried out in the Taj hotel, the NSG faced difficulties due to the century-old architecture of the building which has long connecting passages, spiral staircases and rooms with high ceilings.
      
Dutt said that terrorists were "quite conversant with locations" and kept moving from one place to another to avoid direct encounter with the commandos.
      
The NSG did not know where "one passage will lead" thus posing a hurdle in the operations.
      
The terrorists knew the places very well and preferred big rooms with high ceilings and single exit and entry doors to take positions. "They avoided any small rooms or kitchens where they could be easily trapped by us," he said.
      
The terrorists were setting the upholstery on fire to distract the commandos so that they could change their positions.
      
"The moment a fire was started, fire brigades were called in and we paused shooting. They took advantage of this situation and changed their positions. We came to know about their tactics. Despite fire, we entered one of the rooms and shot one of the terrorists who fell out of the window which was even caught on camera," he said.