In the first ever suicide attack on Mumbai, several terrorists arrived by boats and struck terror at 10 important spots in Mumbai within a span of one hour beginning with Leopold Café at 9.15 pm last night leaving over a 100 dead and over 300 injured. The casualties are likely to rise further as final figures are difficult to come by at this stage.

The dead include 14 police personnel and 9 foreigners. Two naval marksmen got hit in the firing. Prominent police officials who lost their lives in the attack are anti terror squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, Mumbai additional commissioner of police Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar.

The terrorists targeted no fewer than 10 landmark locations of Mumbai for simultaneous attacks using AK-47 rifles, sten guns, other automatic weapons and hand grenades. The targets include the Taj Gateway and the Oberoi Trident hotels, Chatrapati Shivaji (Victoria) Terminus, Santa Cruz Airport, VT Station, Cama Hospital and Metro cinema among others.

In the first incident, the terrorists hijacked a police jeep, shot the policemen dead, dumped their bodies and drove into the city firing indiscriminately spreading terror till the wheel were punctured. Then, they shifted into a private car. Finally, the police caught up and shot them dead.

Two scooter borne terrorists hurled a grenade at a petrol pump. Fortunately, it missed the petrol bunkers and damaged the façade of the petrol station. Otherwise, the damage could have been much worse. The terrorists then entered the Nariman House, killed two and took hostages.

The terrorists, believed to be youths, arrived in a larger boat but switched to a raft with an outboard motor near Mumbai. They came loaded with sufficient automatic weapons, grenades and ammunition in their rucksacks to last them for a prolonged fight with the security agencies. They are alleged to have landed near the Gateway of India and fanned out from Apollo Bunder. The raft has since been recovered by the police.

Terrorists stormed the Taj Gateway and the Oberoi Trident hotels, shot their way in, exploded grenades and took hostages. Fire broke out on the domes of the heritage wing of the Taj following grenade attacks. The fire brigade had a tough time dousing the fire since the hotel had a lot of woodwork and the roof of the hotel finally gave way under fire. The terrorists then spread out to different parts of the hotel and including the new tower wing.

The number of arms and quantity of ammunition used in this attack has given rise to the speculation that his attack might have been carried out in connivance with the underworld. If this is true, the police and the intelligence departments need a deeper penetration and infiltration into the underworld.

The police have already captured nine terrorists and killed five of them. Some five to seven terrorists were holed up in the heritage and tower wings of Taj Gateway hotel holding some 40 guests and employees as hostages in the nineteenth floor of the hotel. At the Oberoi Trident hotel, five to seven terrorists are holding over 30 hostages. Members of a family are believed to be held hostage at Nariman House by some terrorists. This does not include guest who are staying these hotels.

Looking at the magnitude of this attack, the media stopped putting out minute-to-minute report at the request of the police and army authorities as these updates might help the terrorists. The cable televisions and landline phones were disconnected by the hotel authorities and the guests were requested to lock themselves in and not to talk loudly as that might give them away.

Thankfully, the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and the opposition leader L.K. Advani decided not to visit Mumbai before the operation comes to a close as it may hamper the operation. The prime minister Manmohan Singh has requested L.K. Advani to accompany him when he visits Mubai.

Earlier, the union home minister Shivraj Patil flew down to Mumbai and prime minister Manmohan Singh called an emergency meeting of the cabinet to take stock of the situation. The Maharashtra cabinet too met to discuss the developments and work out a strategy to bring this hostage drama to a close.

Parallels are being drawn between the 9/11 attacks in the United States of America and this one looking at the scale and spread of this attack. A caller claiming to represent Deccan Mujahideen called up a television channel to claim responsibility for this attack and convey its demands. However, the security agencies do not attach much importance to their claim.

In a surprise move, the Pakistan Foreign Minister Syed Mohammed Quraishi, who is in India, called this a barbaric act and proposed a hotline between the intelligence chiefs on both sides of the border. It is not clear whether this was done to forestall the blame that Pakistan naturally attracts after such incidents or whether he was unnerved by this attack.

This is the first time that the terrorist have taken the water route to circumvent the security agencies and struck at night. The modus operandi of this attack is said to be similar to that of the suicide attacks in the Kashmir valley and taking hostages.

The home ministry as well as the DGP of Maharahtra Police have confirmed that there would be no deals struck. But, hostages are usually taken to improve the bargaining power of the terrorists. Unofficial sources have, however, confirmed that a negotiation is certainly on. There are unconfirmed reports of terrorist demand for release of prisoners and ransom.

The terrorists are believed to have segregated guests with US, British and Israeli passports at Taj and Oberoi hotels as well as Nariman House. This gives rise to the speculation that it might be an international conspiracy.

The English cricket teams has refused to go to Guwahati for the next match and they have expressed their desire to dump the two test matches and the two one day internationals in the face of terror attacks in Mumbai. Guwahati has seen no fewer than 18 terror attacks in the last month.

Curfew was imposed in Gateway of India and Colaba areas before the NSG commandoes started their operations. The Mumbai Police and the Rapid Action Force held the fort till the Army and the Navy stepped in.

The operation gained momentum after the arrival of the National Security Guards commandoes who have special training to deal with situations of this kind. However, the fact that they arrived 10 hours after the attack is a matter of concern and the NSG should seriously consider stationing contingents of their commandoes at least at five locations in North, South, East, West and Central India so that they may be mobilized faster in times of emergencies.

The Mumbai as well as the national share markets will remain closed. All schools and colleges will remain closed. The trains are running. This is the first time that Mumbai streets wore a deserted look after an attack.

The commandoes carried out a room to room search and used trained police dogs to sniff out explosives. In view of the large number of hostages, the terrorists were asked to surrender. The exact number of hostages and occupants in the hotel were not being revealed for security reasons.

The commandoes are working meticulously sanitizing room after room and are moving from floor to floor. It is likely to be a long drawn operation. Two groups of people from sanitized rooms have been evacuated and dead bodies have been moved in ambulances. The terrorists too are moving from one location to another along with their hostages. All three locations under siege namely, the Taj and Oberoi hotels and the Nariman house have seen deafening explosions in the last hour though it is not known whether they have been set off by the terrorists or the security forces.

The strategy seems to be to wear out the terrorists. Storming the terrorists is likely to be the last resort for the security agencies as any such attempt at this stage might result in casualties as the terrorists are holding a large number of hostages. It might take hours or even days before this operation comes to a close.

The Marine commandoes joined the RAF, NSG, Army and Police commandoes as the operation to flush out the terrorists progressed. One hopes that the terrorists don’t lose their patience and start harming the hostages. Till such time as the terrorists surrender or there is some action one way or the other, it is going to be a battle of wits between terrorists and the government.