Fresh explosions rock Nariman House

Mumbai, Nov 28 (PTI) Three fresh explosions rocked
Nariman House here early Friday as security forces battled
hard through the night to end the siege of Taj and Trident
luxury hotels by heavily-armed terrorists as the death toll in
the audacious strikes in ten places across the city climbed to
127.

As National Security Guard (N.S.G.) commandos closed
in on Nariman House, a Jewish residential complex in Colaba in
south Mumbai, for a final assault, two explosions within a
span of ten to 15 minutes slowed down their operation. A third
explosion was heard at 4.47 a.m. I.S.T.

"The operation to clean up the Nariman House is still
going on," N.S.G Director General J.K. Dutt told reporters
adding "it is just a matter of time and it will end soon".

Dutt said the operations at Hotel Taj was by and large
over with just one injured terrorist still holed-up in the
building. "He has been injured and I think we will be able to
mop up the operation there very quickly," he said.

At Oberoi, no gun shots or explosions were heard since
late Thursday night as the security forces launched
room-to-room searches.

One N.S.G. commando was seriously injured in Taj's
eighth floor during the operations, Commissioner of Police
Hassan Gafoor told PTI.

"The operations at Taj and Oberoi are in the final
stages," he said.

Three terrorists, including a Pakistani national, were
arrested by the security forces from the Taj hotel last night.
The Pakistani national was identified as Ajmal Amir Kamal, a
resident of Faridkot in Multan, officials said.

The suspected militants belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba,
they said.

Gafoor said that all hostages inside the Taj hotel
have been evacuated and search operations were continuing to
flush out the remaining terrorists.

Dutt said two terrorists were holed up in the 8th
floor of the Oberoi hotel while in the Trident section the
combing operation has been completed.

"As far as Trident is concerned, we have been able to
completely clean up and we do not have any report of any
terrorist being holed up over there.

"As far as Oberoi is concerned, yes, we have engaged
two terrorists on the 8th floor," he said.

Late in the night, there was a major fire in Trident
where about 200 people have been trapped and terrorists
exploded grenades that set the roof ablaze amid exchange of
gunfire.

There were reports that about 30 to 35 hotel guests
were safely evacuated.

Among the dead were six foreigners, 14 police
personnel, a home guard jawan and 104 members of the public
including several staff of the two hotels. Of the 327 injured,
police personnel accounted for 26 and foreigners seven.

N.S.G. commandos used helicopters to zero in on the
terrorists as fresh firing erupted at the Nariman House Friday
morning. Three terrorists are believed to be holed up in the
complex.

Seven hostages were rescued from Nariman House shortly
before midnight, 24 hours after the complex was targeted by
terrorists.

There were heavy casualties among the staff in both
the hotels with Taj alone accounting for 17 of them. General
Officer Commanding (G.O.C.) of the Indian state of Maharashtra
Major Gen. R. H. Hooda said they had done a detailed search of
the 395-room hotel.

Intelligence sources said 12 terrorists in two batches
had been frequenting the two hotels for the last one month and
were well aware of the topography. PTI ZH
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