Friday marks the 13th anniversary of the dreadful November 26, 2008 terror attacks on the financial capital Mumbai which still sends a shiver down the spine of the people of the country. The horrifying attacks were carried out by 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists who targeted the most crowded locations of Mumbai including Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Hotel Trident, Nariman House, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, among others. Over 160 people were killed and numerous families who lost their loved ones that night and continue to remember the intense state of fear and panic the innocent lives went through. The terrorist massacre changed the dynamics and relationship between India and Pakistan for an indefinite time and served as a wake-up call for India to tighten their gameplay on defending their cities from ever witnessing such horror again. A total of 166 lives were lost including the general public and security personnel. Nine terrorists were gunned down by the National Security Guard (NSG) and Mumbai Police and the last surviving terrorist Kasab was captured alive and later sentenced to death and hanged on November 21, 2012. The uproar amid people after the attack also led to a string of resignations including the then Union home minister Shivraj Patil and Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, among others.
1. On November 26, 10 Lashkar terrorists arrived from Karachi to Mumbai by speedboats. They had planned to attack the most crowded location of the financial capital to inflict irreversible damage to the nation.
2. They entered the country through the coastlines by hijacking the fishing dinghy and killing four of the five men on a boat. The fifth was kept alive to take them to the Mumbai coast and killed him when they reached the area around the Mumbai coastline.
3. The terror group split into smaller groups to capture different spots on 26 November 2008. The first group reached Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station and open fired at the crowd in the railway station. Mohammed Ajmal Kasab and Ismail Khan were the terrorists who continued attacking the civilians for 90 minutes taking the lives of 58 and injuring more than 100 people.
4. The second attack took place at the Nariman House business and residential complex where the terrorist first blew the gas station drawing out people to the site and then fired at them. They killed the Kosher food inspector, took the rabbi, his wife, and five Israelis hostage, and killed them.
5. Next, they attacked the Leopold Cafe killing 10 people in the open firing that lasted around 10 to 15 minutes. Further, they also planted bombs in two taxis that killed 5 and injured 15 more.
6. The terror of the night was at Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai where the terrorist went next. Shoib and Umer, who attacked at the cafe entered the hotel premises by breaking back doors. Two more named Abdul Rehman Bada and Abu Ali entered from the front gates and started to shoot and throw grenades.
7.At this point of time, the Indian Navy's marine commandos Marcos had reached the spot and entered the hotel to fight the terrorist. The last attack took place at Oberoi-Trident Hotel where the terrorists had again entered the hotel and open fire at the crowd
8. By midnight of November 27, 2008, the police had surrounded the Taj Mahal hotel. The Taj hotel's central dome was bombed and the terrorist openly fired at anyone in the building and fires broke out on the top floors.
9. Security forces actively took rounds of evacuation to bring out the trapped civilians. A team of 200 NSG commandos reached Mumbai from New Delhi the next day and took charge of the rescue operations in Taj Mahal and Oberoi-Trident hotels. Commandos rescued as many people as possible from the Nariman House and the Trident and the NSG secured the Taj. The last terrorist caught alive, Kasaba was later sentenced to death.
10. One of the objectives of the terrorist outfit LeT was to blame 'Hindu terror' for these dastardly attacks. The attackers were given fake Hindu names and Indian identity cards to fulfill their ulterior motive of framing this as 'Hindu terror'. Ajmal Kasab was given a fake ID card in the name of Samir Dinesh Chaudhari and wore red string (Kalawa, a Hindu religious symbol) around his wrist like a Hindu.
