Click to play videoMumbai: Three nights and two days of shock and horror have left an entire nation numbed.
The terror attack on Mumbai on Wednesday, November 26 will be etched as the worst of all terror attacks in the country.
Wednesday night, November 26
It all started at 2120 hours (IST). At least 10 heavily armed young men disembark from a boat near the Gateway of India. They split into groups to execute a plan that will leave the India and the world stunned.
At 2130 hours (IST), terrorists enter the 22 storey Taj Mahal Hotel and take hostages. Mumbai's anti-terrorism squad reaches. Explosions, gunfire start.
Minutes later the neighbouring Trident hotel is taken over by another faction of the same group at 2145 hours (IST). A third splinter opens fire and throws grenades at crowds in the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus (CST) and the very popular Leopold cafe in south Mumbai. Ten people are killed.
At 2230 hours (IST), the terrorists manage to kill anti-terrorism squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, who was supervising anti-terror operations personally at the CAMA hospital. Along with him, additional CP Ashok Kamte and senior police inspector Vijay Salaskar, a crack encounter specialist of the Mumbai police also die.
At around 23 hours (IST), the terrorists hijack a police vehicle between and drive towards Metro junction, where again they fire into the crowds there. This group is later gunned down by a police team.
While police hunted for the terrorists, the army, NSG and naval commados through the night and next morning tried to defuse the hostage situatoin in the Taj and Oberoi hotels and Nariman House, where a rabbi and four others were being held.
There was partial success at the Taj. At 0300 hours (IST) some hostages are bought out but the stand off at the Oberoi and Nariman House continues.
As efforts to break the crisis escalate, so does the damage to the heritage Taj hotel.
At 0200 (IST), early Friday morning a fire breaks out in the hotel's central dome. Some guests are evacuated but the war is far from over.
Before sunrise, marine commandos enter the Taj. In the operations that follow, 7 terrorists are killed ,100 hostages are rescued..
By the afternoon, another 100 people are rescued from Oberoi. Nariman house is surrounded by the NSG. They begin operation Black Tornado.
At 1430 hours (IST), anti-terror operations at the Oberoi come to an end. Two terrorists are killed, 30 bodies are recovered. At 2100 hours (IST), 46 hours after it started, operation Black Tornado ends. Five hostages are killed and so are two terrorists.
However, at the Taj, grenade blasts and gunfire is still heard. Stray bullets hit two journalists stationed outside the Taj. The army calls in its big guns.
Saturday, Novermber 29
Through the night gun battles continue. As Saturday morning dawns, a string of explosions are heard from within the building. At 0730 hours (IST), the gun battle intensifies.
A fire breaks out in the lobby and the first floor of the heritage building. At around 0900 hours (IST), the firing stops.
Firemen move in to douse the raging inferno. Hotel staff who had been trapped for 3 nights and 2 days walk out.
Finally, the NSG commandos come out smiling. All 3 terrorists inside the building have been killed.
Exactly 60 hours after it started the battle at the Taj is over.
However, India's war on terror may have just begun.
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