World | India
Troops retake Jewish centre, hotel in Mumbai
Commandos stormed a Jewish centre and a luxury hotel in Mumbai to retake them from militants on the third day.
- Agencies
- Published: 19:36 November 27, 2008
- Commandos storm a Jewish centre in Mumbai to free hostages on Friday.
- Image Credit: AP
Mumbai: Commandos stormed a Jewish centre and a luxury hotel in Mumbai on Friday to retake them from militants on the third day of attacks on the Indian financial capital in which at least 124 people have died.
Elite troops slid down ropes from helicopters to breach the Jewish centre, killing two gunmen but failing to save the lives of five hostages, including a New York-based rabbi and his wife.
The commandos also cleared the Trident-Oberoi hotel and freed 143 hostages, including foreign tourists and businessmen who emerged with harrowing stories of the bloodshed inside. Two gunmen were killed.
But at least one gunman was still holed up in the Taj hotel. Explosions and gunfire erupted regularly as he dodged the commandos through a maze of corridors and rooms.
The chief of India's elite commando unit said on Friday that forces have killed two terrorists at the Trident-Oberoi Hotel.
He said the hotel is now free from terrorists and is "under our control". Police earlier said at least 93 people had been evacuated.
The commando chief also said he saw up to 15 bodies in one room at Mumbai's Taj Mahal Hotel among a total of 50 found in the hotel.
"We found 12-15 bodies," the commander said, adding that the commandos also found money and ammunition.
At the Trident-Oberoi Hotel, Mumbai police chief Hassan Ghafoor said they found 24 bodies on Friday.
"The operation is complete. We have recovered 24 bodies today," Ghafoor told reporters outside the hotel.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra's state home minister said that an arrested militant in the Mumbai attacks was a Pakistani national.
"He is a Pakistani national," R.R. Patil told reporters when asked about the nationality of the militant.
Earlier , commandos stormed the Jewish centre in Mumbai to free hostages, more than 24 hours after coordinated militant attacks killed scores of people in Mumbai.
On Thursday, elite Indian commandos fought room to room battles with militants inside two luxury hotels to save scores of people trapped or taken hostage.
Explosions rattled the nearby Taj Hotel as the troops flushed out the last of the militants there. Fire and smoke plumed from an open window.
At least six foreigners, including one Australian, a Briton, an Italian and a Japanese national were killed.
Those who survived told harrowing stories of close encounters. Australian actress Brooke Satchwell, who starred in the Neighbours television soap opera, said she narrowly escaped the gunmen by hiding in a hotel bathroom cupboard.
"There was people getting shot in the corridor. There was someone dead outside the bathroom," the shaken actress told Australian television. "The next thing I knew I was running down the stairs and there were a couple of dead bodies across the stairs. It was chaos."
Gunmen had said the attacks were in retaliation to the killings of Muslims in Kashmir.
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