'Mumbai police had little knowledge about militant strength'

The Mumbai Police had "little knowledge" about the number of terrorists involved in the 26/11 attacks and the NSG was helped by the Intelligence Bureau with certain vital inputs, says former NSG chief JK Dutt.

Dutt, who himself led the NSG operations to flush out the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, said he had some information about the actual number of militants before launching the commando operation and was helped by Intelligence Bureau with vital inputs.

"The Mumbai Police had little knowledge about the strength of the terrorists even after arresting Mohammed Ajmal Amir(the arrested terrorist) and told us that there were between four and 20 terrorists," he said here.

"Locally (in the Mumbai Police), the figure was varying. It was put between 4-20 by the Mumbai Police. But, the Intelligence Bureau from New Delhi told me that my men had to account for eight AK rifles. It gave an indication of the presence of eight men," Dutt, who retired recently as NSG chief, said.

"I met Maharashtra director general AN Roy in the early hours of November 27 at his office as by then Ajmal was arrested... but we did not get a definite number," Dutt said.

The final figure of eight terrorists, whom the NSG commandos eventually killed at three locations, was arrived at only in the morning of November 29 when the body of the last terrorist killed at the Taj was sniffed out by dog squad from under the rubbles, he said.

Even Sandra Samuel, who escaped with baby Moshe from the Nariman House when terrorists laid siege there, was of little help as she too failed to provide information about the number of terrorists in the building, Dutt said.

"By the evening of November 28 we had an inkling that there could be seven to eight men but the actual figure was still eluding us.

"Whether there were eight terrorists with same number of AK-47's or a lesser or larger number was the question," Dutt, who retired on February 28 from the counter-terror and anti-hijack force, said.

Dutt said soon after the attack began on the fateful night of November 26, he contacted Maharashtra DGP AN Roy and asked whether he needed the service of NSG.

But he was later told by the state government authorities that although a decision to this effect has been taken, the Maharashtra Chief Minister was not in Mumbai and the chief minister's clearance would be needed to proceed further.

During the operation at Taj Hotel, Dutt said, the terrorists used to stop firing whenever firemen went up the ladders with water snouts as "they were using this time to rest, eat something, reload their weapnos and plan their future course".

"After few such attempts, I asked my men to keep firing and open bursts so that the terrorists plan does not succeed," he said.