Mumbai on tenterhooks, fresh explosions rock Nariman House
Mumbai on tenterhooks, fresh explosions rock Nariman House
Three fresh explosions rocked Nariman House in Mumbai on early Friday as NSG Commandos open fire at terrorists after being airdropped on its roof in the final assault.
A tense Mumbai remained on tenterhooks as security forces gave a major push to end the long and bloody terror siege by militants and rescue the trapped people.
The narrow lanes leading to the Nariman House looked nothing short of a war zone buzzing with heavily armed
security personnel.
Initiating the final counter offensive operation, elite commandos of the NSG were airdropped onto the terrace of the Jewish residential complex even as they came under heavy gunfire from the building’s fourth floor.
It took a while before the commandos could secure the terrace as well as the top floor of the six-storeyed building as there rapid fire from terrorists suspected to be the holed up on the fourth floor.
Once, the area had been secured, a reconnaissance helicopter capable of taking high-quality pictures was seen encircling the building for a couple of times before flying away.
Residents including the elderly are believed to have been taken hostage by the terrorists whose number could not be confirmed.
Ambulances were put on stand-by along with fire tenders to cope with any eventuality arising out of the tense and nerve-wrecking situation.
Snipers too have been deployed waiting to nail down the terrorists in the first opportunity.
Intermittent gunfire erupted on Friday morning in the under-siege Trident (Oberoi) hotel where a grenade explosion was also heard after an overnight lull as NSG commandoes cordoned off the building and choppers circled overhead.
Security personnel have been carrying room-to-room searches to clear the plush hotel of terrorists suspected to be holding people hostage.
At least 30 hostages, majority of them foreigners, were rescued from the hotel complex.
The roads in South Mumbai, the city’s financial hub which bore the brunt of the terror attacks, were deserted.
Shop and commercial establishments in the Colaba area continued to be remain shut.
For the second day, wary people chose to remain indoors, hoping for an early end to the ordeal.
Mumbai waits end to terror ordeal
The death toll in the audacious strikes in ten places across the city climbed to 127.
Late in Thursday night, there was a major fire in the Trident (Oberoi) hotel where about 200 people have been trapped and terrorists exploded grenades that set the roof ablaze.
The other scene of action was at Nariman House, a Jewish residential complex, where some Israelis have been held hostage by some three-four terrorists.
The hand of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba is suspected in the worst terror attacks in the country but the outfit denied any involvement.
While all the hostages in Taj were evacuated to safety, the situation in Trident worsened with the terrorists involved in a grim battle with security forces.
There were heavy casualties among the staff in both the hotels with Taj alone accounting for 17 of them. G-o-C Maharashtra R H Hooda said they had done a detailed search of the 395-room hotel but declined to give numbers of terrorists holed up or those trapped.
Among the dead were nine foreigners and 14 police personnel including ATS chief Hemant Karkare and four other senior officers.
Security agencies have sought to blame LeT, one of whose activists was captured alive in Trident. He is said to be Abu Ismail hailing from Faridkot in Pakistan.
The terrorists numbering about 20-25 are believed to have landed on Mumbai shores after a mother vessel dropped them in three inflatable boats. Seven of them have been gunned down.
The Indian navy claimed that they have spotted the mother vessel and giving it a hot chase.
Even as the combing operations were underway, one more explosion rocked Taj which has already suffered several grenade blasts setting several rooms ablaze.
Taj general manager K S Kang lost his wife and two children in one of the fires set off by the terrorists.
Elite commandoes of the topline security forces from army, navy, NSG and Rapid Action Force were involved in the raging encounter with the heavily-armed terrorists in the two hotels.
Nine foreigners killed in terror attacks in Mumbai :
At least nine foreigners, including a woman, were killed and 18 injured when heavily armed terrorists attacked two luxury hotels and other public places in Mumbai in one of the worst terror strikes in the country on Wednesday night.
The slain foreigners included a Briton, an Australian, a Japanese and an Italian.
British High Commissioner Sir Richard Stagg said a UK national died in the attack on the Taj hotel, where seven of his compatriots were also injured.
"We have been checking in all hospitals and are making arrangements for the British nationals who are there in the city," he said, adding "we have also informed the family members."
According to residential medical officer of St George Hospital, Ulhal Vasave, seven bodies of foreign nationals were brought to the hospital on Wednesday night.
The body of one Japanese victim was brought to the Bombay hospital on Thursday morning.
The slain foreigners who have been identified are Braid Gilbert Taylor (49), an Australian; British national Andrias Leveras (aged about 75) yrs); a Japanese businessman Hisashi Tsuda (38) and an Italian Antonio de Lorenzo.
Two males and one female – Michael Stert (73), Jeurgan Hetras Rudolph (68) and Stredder Daphne (50) – were also among the dead, but their nationalities were yet to be ascertained. Two more slain foreigners were yet to be identified.
Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome said among the dead was an Italian national, identifying him as Antonio de Lorenzo.
All Italians who were in hotels or other areas attacked in Mumbai have been contacted "except for one or two people," the country’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a local TV channel.
Japanese national Tsuda, who was working with Mtsui Marubeni Liquefied Gas Co, died at a hospital after being shot in the leg, stomach and chest at the Oberoi Trident hotel, the company’s Vice President Hajime Tamaki said in Tokyo.
Its another employee, 44, fell and suffered light injuries as he fled the scene, he said, without identifying the injured by name.
Among the 60 injured admitted to Bombay hospital, 11 foreigners were from different nationalities, Dr Ashish Tiwari of the hospital said.
The injured foreigners are from Australia, USA, Norway, Spain, Canada and Singapore, he said.
Top cops go down fighting :
Panic set in quickly all over the city, which has seen several terror attacks in the past. The outwitted police took them on but suffered losses initially. Among the first to die was Hemant Karkare, the highly regarded Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief heading the controversial probe into bomb attacks in Maharashtra blamed on Hindu radicals.
Among his four colleagues who were also believed to be killed were Additional Police Commissioners Ashok Kamte and Mumbai Police officer Vijay Salaskar who was known as "encounter specialist" for killing gangsters.
As police reinforcements rushed to the attack sites, backed by the hurriedly summoned paramilitary and Indian soldiers, 200 commandos of the National Security Guards (NSG) were flown from New Delhi. The NSG is trained to take on terrorists.
The security forces killed two terrorists and caught nine. But within a short time, a huge blast was heard on the top floor of the Taj Hotel and a raging fire erupted. Smoke billowed from there even Thursday.
The situation appeared to be somewhat under control Thursday, with police officers herding several tourists from the two hotels into ambulances and police vehicles to move them to safety. Yet there was no word on how many foreigners were dead but one Western woman — her nationality not known — was reportedly killed at Hotel Taj.
Maharashtra Director General of Police A.N. Roy said: "The terrorists have fired indiscriminately."
Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Ghafoor said AK-47 and AK-56 as well as semi-automatic rifles besides grenades were used in the "coordinated terrorist acts". On Thursday, a five-kilometre radius in south Mumbai, which covers business districts such as Colaba, Cuff Parade, Nariman Point and Churchgate, was cordoned off.
Train services resumed in Mumbai on Thursday but there were few passengers. There were few vehicles on the roads.
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Is Dawood Ibrahim behind Indian Mujahideen?
Is Dawood Ibrahim behind Indian Mujahideen?
The possibility of the involvement of Dawood Ibrahim [Images], the fugitive gangster living in Karachi, in the serial blasts in Uttar Pradesh in November last year, in Jaipur in May last, in Bengaluru on July 25 and in Ahmedabad on July 26 needs to be looked into for the following reasons:
* The so-called Indian Mujahideen, which has claimed responsibility for these incidents, first made its appearance after the judgment was delivered by a Mumbai court last year awarding severe sentences in the case relating to the Mumbai blasts of March 12, 1993.
* The March 1993 blasts were organised by Dawood Ibrahim with the help of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. Many of those convicted in the case were his close associates. All the blasts which have taken place since November last, have involved the mobilisation of considerable human and material resources.
* This is so particularly in Gujarat. There were 16 blasts in Ahmedabad [Images]. In Surat [Images], 18 unexploded improvised explosive devices were found after the Ahmedabad blasts, on Tuesday alone.
* Normally, terrorists follow the principle of one perpetrator for planting one IED. That means, there were at least 37 perpetrators. Normally, each perpetrator has at least one person to provide back-up support. Thus, it is estimated that the total number of individuals involved must have been at least 70-plus.
* The group which was involved in the terrorist strikes in Gujarat was reported to have procured or stolen at least three motor vehicles in Mumbai and brought them to Gujarat. Two of these were used in Ahmedabad and one with some LNG cylinders was found in Surat.
* The mobilisation of such a large number of people plus the procurement of the motor vehicles would have involved considerable expenditure.
* Only Dawood Ibrahim would have had such resources and the ability to mobilise such a large number of people.
* If he had orchestrated these strikes, where did he get these men trained — in Pakistan with the ISI’s help as he did before March 1993, or in India? In March 1993, he used only Indian Muslims for carrying out the blasts.
* In March 1993, he got all the material for the blasts from the ISI. This time, the material would appear to have been procured in India.
An intriguing aspect is, why all the IEDs planted in Surat did not explode. Some reports have said that it was because of the rains. The IEDs in Surat must have been planted at the same time as those in Ahmedabad. On July 26, when the blasts took place in Ahmedabad, there were no rains, which came only the next day. If rains were the reason for the failure, the IEDs in Surat must have been timed to explode a day after the blasts in Ahmedabad.
The other possibility is that the terrorists deliberately did not want the Surat IEDs to explode but wanted the police to remain preoccupied with defusing them so that they can carry out blasts in some other town.
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Operations in final stages, 35 hostages rescued: GoC
Operations in final stages, 35 hostages rescued: GoC
The operations against the siege of Mumbai appeared to be nearing last stages with the evacuation of 35 hostages from Oberoi hotel but fierce battle was on to eliminate a small band ultras holed up in a Jewish building complex.
"It is just a matter of a few hours before we will be able to wrap up things," Southern Command Chief Lt Gen Noble Thamburaj told reporters a little before noon outside Taj hotel as 35 hostages, including foreigners and a six-month old infant, were successfully rescued from Oberoi-Trident.
The new building of Taj hotel has been totally flushed out and cleared and handed over to police, he said adding that one terrrorist, possibly two, had moved into the adjacent old heritage building.
"We have heard the sound of a woman and a man, giving indications that they are being held hostage," Thamburaj said but added that almost all guests and staff in the hotel have been evacuated.
He conceded that the there were some casualties among the NSG commandos but would not disclose their numbers and whether they were fatal or otherwise saying that operational details would affect the "mental makeup" of terrorists.
Thamburaj said that operations had to be "deliberate and slow" to ensure the safety of the hostages, guests and
hotel staff.
The commandos had been told not to rush things under the "pressure of media or citizens".
He said some rooms in Taj are still bolted from inside and people inside are not responding, probably they are scared.
"As soon as communication and room services are restored, we will inform them about the situation and ask them to come out"
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Outside group behind Mumbai terror strikes: PM
Outside group behind Mumbai terror strikes: PM
Blaming elements outside the country for the terror strikes in Mumbai, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has warned that India will not tolerate the use of territories of its neighbours for attacks here.
Talking tough in an extraordinary address to the nation, he said: "It is evident that the group which carried out these attacks, based outside the country, had come with the single minded determination to create havoc in the commercial capital of the country."
India will take up "strongly with our neighbours that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated and that there would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken by them."
He said the "well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of panic by choosing high profile targets and indiscriminately killing foreigners."
The Prime Minister asserted that "strongest possible measures" would be taken to deal with such elements, including the use of the National Security Act and setting up of a Federal Investigation Agency to prevent recurrence of such incidents.
"We will take a number of measures to strengthen the hands of our police and investigation authorities. We will curb the flow of funds to suspect organisations. We will restrict the entry of suspects into the country.
"We will go after these individuals and organizations and make sure that every perpetrator, organiser and supporter of terror, whatever his affiliation or religion may be, pays a heavy price for these cowardly and horrific acts against our people," the Prime Minister said.
While the National Security Act would be employed to deal with situations of this kind, the existing laws would be tightened to ensure that there were no loopholes available to terrorists to escape the clutches of the law, he said.
"Most importantly, it is essential to immediately set up a Federal Investigation Agency to go into terrorist crimes of this kind and ensure that the guilty are brought to book," Singh said.
Meanwhile, Singh, along with Sonia Gandhi, visited the J J Hospital in south-central Mumbai to inquire about the condition of over 50 injured police personnel and foreign tourists who are admitted there.
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Killing a captured enemy: The Hindu Way and the Muslim way
a) KAFIR-KUSHI A LA SURAH VIII, VERSE 12 :
Around 1689 A.D. the Hindu king Shambhaji, son of Shivaji, was captured by Aurangzib’s men. The Hindu king was murdered along with his minister Kavi Kalash. There are many ways of killing a defeated foe. Freeing a defeated foe after the battle, like the Hindu kings used to do or the Indian government did when they freed without trial the criminal elements of the Moslem Pakistani prisoners captured in the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), was of course unthinkable in Islamic ethics and more so if the foe was a kafir, an enemy of Allah and the prophet Mohammed. Kafirs were killed in a more sophisticated way, the way prescribed by the Koran. Chopping a kafir’s head off at a single stroke of the sword or crushing his head in a single blow was considered too mild. The idea was to make the pain last, as long as possible. Thus in Islam’s hell, a kafir burns but his skin goes on growing to be burnt continuously so that the pain becomes everlasting. Death is the termination of all pains and so it must be delayed to teach a lesson and to prove without fail the greatness of Allah’s religion.
SHAMBHAJl WAS FIRST BLINDED AND KAVI KALASH’S TONGUE WAS PULLED OUT. ON MARCH ll, 1689, THEY WERE PUT TO A CRUEL AND PAINFUL DEATH. THEIR LIMBS WERE HACKED OFF ONE BY ONE AND THEIR FLESH THROWN TO THE DOGS.
It was in the year 1669 A.D. that the Hindu king Gokla was Captured by Aurangzib. THE HINDU KING’S LIMBS WERE HACKED OFF ONE BY ONE ON THE PLATFORM OF THE POLICE STATION OF AGRA, THE CITY OF TAJ MAHAL. HIS WHOLE FAMILY WAS FORCIBLY CONVERTED TO ISLAM.
One might think that such gruesome murders committed in accordance with the injunctions of the Koran are a thing of the past. But it is not so. The following incident proves it.
Bengal in pre-partition India was then being ruled by Suhrawardy, the Muslim League leader. Suhrawardy had laid a diabolical plan to destroy the Hindu city of Calcutta. One Mr. Haren Ghosh, a music teacher who used to give lessons in music to the girls of Suhrawardy’s family, came to know of the plot and he informed the authorities. Calcutta was saved at the nick of time and eventually Suhrawardy came to know that his plans were divulged by his music teacher. Mr. Ghosh was kidnapped, his limbs were hacked off one by one and his cut up body was found in a box that was left in a Calcutta street. And this happened in the 1940’s. Islam has not changed and those who think otherwise only fool themselves.
Even today the Sheikhs of Arabia make sick jokes when they ask their non-Moslem friends if they had a choice which one would they choose for their death: death by a single stroke severing the head or death by chopping their limbs off one by one.
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US-based Muslim charity Holy Land Foundation convicted of funding terrorism:
US-based Muslim charity Holy Land Foundation convicted of funding terrorism: largest terrorism financing prosecution in American history :
US-based Muslim charity convicted of funding terrorism
DALLAS, Texas (AFP) – The leaders of what was once the largest Muslim charity in the United States were found guilty of acting as a front for Palestinian militants in the largest terrorism financing prosecution in American history.
It was a major victory in the White House’s legal "war on terror" and comes after a mistrial was declared last year in the case involving the now defunct Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, charged with funneling 12 million dollars to Hamas.
"Today’s verdicts are important milestones in America’s efforts against financiers of terrorism," Patrick Rowan, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement.
"This prosecution demonstrates our resolve to ensure that humanitarian relief efforts are not used as a mechanism to disguise and enable support for terrorist groups."
Family members could be heard sobbing in the Dallas courtroom as guilty verdicts were read on all 108 charges of providing material support to terrorists, money laundering and tax fraud.
One woman cried out: "My dad is not a criminal! He’s a human!"
Holy Land was one of several Muslim organizations the Bush administration closed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks for allegedly raising money for overseas Islamic extremists.
Muslim charities that remain open have reported significant drops in contributions because of fears of prosecution even as juries deadlocked or rendered acquittals or convictions of lesser charges in two other high-profile terror financing cases in Florida and Chicago.
The United States Justice Department vowed in October 2007 to retry the five former charity organizers in the Holy Land case after jurors could not agree on verdicts on nearly 200 charges and a new jury was seated in mid-September.
Over the past two months, the government has presented largely the same evidence hoping to prove that Holy Land was created in the late 1980s to gather donations from deep-pocketed American Muslims to support the then-newly formed Hamas movement resisting the Israeli occupation.
Hamas – a multi-faceted Islamist political, social and armed movement which now controls the Gaza Strip – was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 1995 and the trial centered over whether Holy Land continued to support the group after this point.
Prosecutors did not accuse the charity of directly financing or being involved in terrorist activity. Instead, they said humanitarian aid was used to promote Hamas and allow it to divert existing funds to militant activities.
Defense attorneys said the charity was a non-political organization which operated legally to get much-needed aid to Palestinians living in squalor under the Israeli occupation and argued that the chief reasons their clients were on trial are family ties.
They left the courthouse without comment.
After reading the verdicts, U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis ordered the men detained because of fears they would flee the country before sentencing given their international ties.
Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’ political leader in Syria, is the brother of defendant Mufid Abdulqader, a top Holy Land fundraiser whose Palestinian band played at the charity’s events and now faces up to 55 years in jail.
Meshaal’s deputy, Mousa Abu Marzook, is a cousin of defendant Mohammad el-Mezain, a foundation co-founder, and is married to the cousin of defendant Ghassan Elashi, former Holy Land board chairman.
Mezain faces up to 15 years in prison while Elashi, who is already serving six and a half years for export law violations, faces up to life in prison.
The brother of defendant Shukri Abu Baker, Holy Land’s former chief executive officer, is Jamal Issa, former Hamas leader in Sudan and its current head in Yemen. Baker, the former chief executive officer of Holy Land, faces up to life in prison.
A fifth defendant is Abdulrahman Odeh, Holy Land’s New Jersey representative, who faces up to 55 years in jail.
Jurors also found that the defendants owed the government 12.4 million dollars.
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Islamic terror attacks in Mumbai; 80 dead, over 900 injured, warned in September by IM
Next Mumbai: Indian Mujahideen
The Indian Mujahideen, which has claimed responsibility for the Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Jaipur blasts killing at least 130 people in a span of four months, has now threatened to carry out attacks in Mumbai, report Agencies.
Accusing Mumbai Police’s ATS of harassing Muslims, Indian Mujahideen said in its email that it was closely watching the ATS.
"You should know that your acts are not at all left unnoticed; rather we are closely keeping an eye on you and just waiting for the right time to execute your bloodshed. We are aware of your recent raids at Ansarnagar, Mograpada in Andheri and the harassment and trouble you created there for the Muslims," the group said in the email they sent to various media houses on Saturday evening.
"If this is the degree your arrogance has reached, and if you think that by these stunts you can scare us, then let the Indian Mujahideen warn all the people of Mumbai that whatever deadly attacks Mumbaikars will face in future, their responsibility would lie with the Mumbai ATS and their guardians – Vilasrao Deshmukh and R R Patil," the email said. "You are already on our hit-list and this time very very seriously."
Terror attacks in Mumbai; 80 dead, over 900 injured
27 Nov 2008, 0224 hrs IST, TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES
Mumbai: In one of the most violent terror attacks on Indian soil, Mumbai came under an unprecedented night attack as terrorists used machine guns, including AK-47s, and grenades to strike at the city’s most high-profile targets – the hyper-busy CST (formerly VT) rail terminus; the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway and the luxury Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point; the domestic airport at Santa Cruz; the Cama and GT hospitals near CST; the Metro Adlabs multiplex and Mazgaon Dockyard – killing at least 80 and sending more than 900 to hospital, according to latest reports. ( Watch )
The attacks have taken a tragic toll on the city’s top police brass: The high-profile chief of the anti-terror squad Hemant Karkare was killed; Mumbai’s additional commissioner of police (east) Ashok Kamte was gunned down outside the Metro; and celebrated encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar was also killed. ( Watch )
The attacks appeared to be aimed at getting international attention as the terrorists took upto 40 British nationals and other foreigners hostage. The chairman of Hindustan Unilever Harish Manwani and CEO of the company Nitin Paranjpe were among the guests trapped at the Oberoi. All the internal board members of the multinational giant were reported to be holed up in the Oberoi hotel.
Two terrorists were reported holed up inside the Oberoi Hotel. Fresh firing has been reported at Oberoi and Army has entered the hotel to flush out the terrorists.
An unknown outfit, Deccan Mujahideen, has sent an email to news organizations claiming that it carried out the Mumbai attacks.
The Army and Navy in Mumbai were put on alert. 65 Army commandos and 200 NSG commandos were being rushed to Mumbai, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said.
The Navy commandos too have been asked to assist the police. Special secretary M L Kumawat is in constant touch with the state police.
Some media reports attributed the attack to Lashkar-e-Taiba. There were also unconfirmed reports that some of the terrorists came in by sea. A boat laden with explosives was recovered later at night off the Gateway of India.
Well after midnight, sources said two of the terrorists were shot and wounded at Girgaum in south Mumbai. The two were driving in a commandeered silver-coloured Skoda car. Earlier, these men had sprayed bullets from a police Bolero, outside the Metro Adlabs multiplex.
The attacks occurred at the busiest places. Besides hotels and hospitals, terrorists struck at railway stations, Crawford Market, Wadi Bunder and on the Western Express Highway near the airport. Several of these places are within a one-km radius of the commissioner of police’s office.
"This is definitely a terrorist strike. Seven places have been attacked with automatic weapons and grenades. Terrorists are still holed up in three locations Taj and Oberoi hotels and GT Hospital. Encounters are on at all three places," said Maharashtra DGP A N Roy.
St George’s Hospital and G T Hospital were said to have received 75 bodies and more than 250 injured people, additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev said. Bombay Hospital got two bodies and 30 injured people were admitted there; Cooper Hospital, Vile Parle, got three dismembered bodies.
Three of the deaths occurred inside the Taj and one G T Hospital attendant died in a shootout inside the hospital. There were reports of people cowering under tables and chairs at both the Taj as well as G T Hospital.
Metro Junction resident Manoj Goel said: "My brother, Manish, died in the firing at Colaba’s Hamaal Galli." Cops fired back at the men – probably from one of the Lashkar groups, dressed in black and with backpacks and SRPF, Crime Branch, ATS and teams of military commandos were summoned to the spot. Train services at CST were suspended and all roads leading to and from south Mumbai were blockaded.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh cut short his Kerala visit and was returning to Mumbai. He described the situation in Mumbai as "very serious".
Deshmukh promised "stringent action" against the assailants but the mood across Mumbai was not so optimistic.
There were reports of firing around several landmark buildings in the Colaba-Nariman Point area, including the Taj hotel, Oberoi and other tourist attractions and pubs like Leopold’s. The top floor of Oberoi was said to be on fire amid reports of blasts in the area and blood-smeared bodies were being brought out of the Taj lobby.
Terrorists were said to be holed up at the Taj as well as G T Hospital and cops scampered to cordon off these places. A white flag was seen fluttering from an Oberoi Hotel window around 11.20 pm, where a blast was said to have occurred.
The blast on the Western Express Highway – near Centaur Hotel outside the airport – occurred in a taxi, deputy commissioner of police Nissar Tamboli said.
The firing and bombing started close to the Gateway of India. The gunbattle then moved on towards CST and raged on for over an hour from 10 pm, sending commuters running out of the station.
The assailants also fired into the crowd at CST and people on the trains and then ran out of the station themselves and into neighbouring buildings, including Cama Hospital, after being challenged by cops.
SRPF personnel then entered the iconic BMC building – just opposite CST – to take aim at the assailants, BMC commissioner Jairaj Phatak said. "We fear some of the assailants are still inside the station and we want to catch them if they come out," a police official said.
Vikhroli police station senior inspector Habib Ansari was on his way to work from his Colaba home when he saw two armed men, with sophisticated weaponry, trying to run into bylanes near the Gateway of India."I rushed back to Colaba and all policemen, including GRP and RPF personnel, were called up," he added. End
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Dhule cops: Muslims mastermind all acts of terror, Hindu action a mere retaliation
Dhule cops: Muslims mastermind all acts of terror, Hindu action a mere retaliation
While the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad questions suspected radical Hindus who it alleges masterminded the September 29 Malegaon blast, policemen probing the October 5 riots in Dhule, while seeking remand of one of the riot accused, have stated: "It is an established fact that Muslims are the masterminds behind all terrorist activities across India."
The statement was made while seeking remand of a local Muslim leader Shaabir Khan alias Shaabir Bhangarwala who is accused of instigating the communal violence in Dhule last month which claimed nine lives and left many injured. Khan has been booked in two cases of murder, rioting and looting while other male members of his family have been booked in seven cases each.
The remand application for Khan was filed before the Dhule Additional Sessions Judge A Baviskar. Stating that Khan was one of the prime accused in the murder of one Imran Sheikh, police also tried to justify the act of the hardline Hindu Rakshak Samiti (HRS) which is being blamed for the violence in Dhule after the Malegaon blast. Seeking Khan’s custody, the police stated that what the Hindu group had done was "mere retaliation to what has been happening in the country for past few years." Two men of the HRS group have been under arrest since the riots.
Khan’s advocate Runwal P S said: "In the FIR, the police states that around 800-1000 people have been a part of the riot but the remand has 50 names with 47 belonging to the Muslim community. It is clear that the police is acting unconstitutionally and is hell bent on giving the probe a communal twist."
When contacted, Dhule SP Sunil Kolhe said: "We cannot make such a grave mistake and engage in such stereotyping. I will look into the matter. If such an act has been done by our men, we will see how to contain it immediately." End
MAHARASHTRA Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil has categorically denied The Indian Express report that the Maharashtra Police have submitted a statement saying Muslims are the masterminds behind all acts of terror in India, and Hindu action is mere retaliation.
But the Express is in possession of a copy of the statement made by the police in Dhule, that proves otherwise.
In its application for remand of a local Muslim leader, Shaabir Khan alias Shaabir Bhangarwala, accused of instigating last month’s communal violence in Dhule which claimed nine lives, the police said: "Bharat deshaat baryach pramanat thikthikani bombspot zaale asun tyaamadhey bombspot ghadvun aanare vyakti yaa Muslim samajachya nishpann zaalele aahet." Translated from the Marathi, it reads: "It is an established fact that Muslims are the masterminds behind all terrorist activities across India." After the Express first reported the statement on Monday, Patil, who is also Maharashtra’s home minister, said: "I have spoken to the Dhule SP and he has told me that there is no such mention in the documents. I have clarified it." The police filed the remand application before the Dhule Additional Sessions Judge A Baviskar.
According to the police, "the October 5 riot was mainly instigated by inflammatory speeches made by (Shaabir) Khan who had just returned from Haj a day before." Khan was arrested a week after the violence.
The police also tried to justify the actions of the Hindu Rakshak Samiti (HRS), which has been blamed for the violence in Dhule days after the Malegaon blast. What the HRS did was "mere retaliation to what has been happen ing in the country over the past few years", the application said.
Two HRS activists have been arrested since the riots. Khan has been booked in two cases of murder, rioting and looting, while other male members of his family have been booked in seven cases each.
Khan’s lawyers have moved the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court, challenging the rejection of his bail plea.
It is an established fact that Muslims are the masterminds behind all terrorist activities across India.
- Police application seeking remand of local Muslim leader Shaabir Khan accused of instigating last month’s communal violence in Dhule which claimed nine lives.
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Islamofascism, islamofascist, jihadi added to Oxford dictionary
Islamofascism, islamofascist, jihadi added to Oxford dictionary
In its latest update, the Oxford English Dictionary now includes "Islamofascism" and related words, which came into vogue in recent years in the context of President Bush’s "war on terror."
Islamofascism is one of nearly 2,700 new entries added to the dictionary in the last three months, according to a press release from Oxford University Press.
Other words added to the dictionary include Islamofascist, Islamophobe, Islamophobic and jihadi.
The dictionary’s subscription-only Web site, accessed Tuesday afternoon by RAW STORY, defined Islamofascism as, "the advocacy or practice of a form of Islam perceived as authoritarian, intolerant, or extremist; [specifically] Islamic fundamentalism regarded in this way." The dictionary’s first citation of the phrase comes from a 1990 article in London’s Independent, which observed "authoritarian government, not to say ‘Islamo-fascism’, is the rule rather than the exception" in Islamic societies.
Wikipedia says the Oxford American Dictionary defines Islamofascism as "a controversial term equating some modern Islamic movements with the European fascist movements of the early twentieth century."
Islamophobia is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "hatred or fear of Islam, [especially] as a political force; hostility or prejudice towards Muslims."
The term was introduced by a French writer to describe the Iranian Revolution of 1978, according to a Wall Street Journal column by Roger Scruton.
Scruton said the term has become popular since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, because "it provides a convenient way of announcing that you are not against Islam but only against its perversion by terrorists."
Some say the term carries more political and xenophobic weight, though. Spencer Ackerman, blogging at The New Republic last year, wrote of a trip to Dearborn, Mich., which has a high population of Muslims who were upset over Bush’s invokation of the phrase.
"It doesn’t diminish the crimes of the Taliban to observe that a Nazi would find Taliban-ruled Afghanistan unrecognizable," Ackerman wrote "‘Islamofascism’ merely strokes an erogenous zone of the right wing, which gains pleasure from a juvenile reductio ad Hitlerum with the enemies of the U.S."
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Mumbai terror: Islamic millitants were looking for British, Americans, says witness
Mumbai terror: Islamic millitants were looking for British, Americans, says witness
British national Alex Chamberlain, who works for the Indian Premier League in Mumbai, was in a restaurant at the Oberoi hotel when he heard gunfire, and barely managed to escape.
When the terrorists stormed the building, he and a group of people were ushered into the kitchen. Chamberlain told Sky News that one of the waiters was shot in the arm.
"They were talking about Britons and Americans specifically. They shot people completely unnecessarily," he said.
The group of about 30 to 40 people were then "marched up like sheep" by a "young guy with a sub-machine gun, who was about 22-23."
The gunman then told people to stop and asked them to put their hands up. The attacker asked if any of the people were British or Americans.
Chamberlain said: "My Indian friend told me ‘don’t be a hero’ and tell him you’re Italian and that kind of stuff’."
Chamberlain said he got to about the 18th floor of the hotel and there was a gunman below them, and there were gunshots above and smoke everywhere.
The Briton and another person managed to sneak out of a fire door "without the gunman seeing us", where they stayed for about 15 minutes.
"I phoned my girlfriend and told her I loved her and thought it would be the last time I would talk to anyone," Chamberlain said.
He then walked "slowly downstairs expecting to see somebody with a gun around the corner" but they had gone.
He then smashed a window. He said: "the smoke was so thick I thought we were going to suffocate".
Chamberlain said he walked into the lobby and when he came out into the street there were about 20 police officers there "looking just as scared as any of us" and a few fire engines.
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