Candle light vigil in US

Congressman Joe Crowley at a Candle Light Vigil to pay the last respect to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The meet was held at Jackson Hights on Monday.

 

Terrorists came on boats: Deshmukh

The terrorists, who created havoc in Mumbai overnight, came by boats and struck at 10 places but their number is not known immediately, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said.

Addressing a press conference in the wee hours, he said two terrorists had been killed in encounters with police and security forces and nine suspects have been detained.

The terror attacks began between 9 pm and 9.15 pm with indiscriminate firing and bomb blasts, Deshmukh said.

The terrorists came by boats and started firing, he said but their number was not immediately known.

The attackers threw grenades and fired indiscriminately while storming the hotels across Mumbai, he added.

At least two sten guns have been recovered from the terrorists, the Chief Minister said.

To a question, he said it was not immediately known as to who was involved in the attacks as the entire police force is concentrating on saving lives.

He said around 200 National Security Guard (NSG) commandos had been dispatched from Delhi for the operation to flush out terrorists.

Asked whether foreigners were the target of the attacks, the Chief Minister disagreed, saying it could not be said.

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Almost all the locations attacked by suspected terrorists in south Mumbai Wednesday night were preferred hangouts of foreign tourists. Here is a list of the seven places under attack:

* Leopold Cafe in Colaba, a favourite hangout with the tourist crowd in south Mumbai (Firing)

* Hotel Taj Intercontinental, a five-star hotel in south Mumbai (Firing)

* Hotel Trident (formerly Hotel Oberoi), a five-star hotel in south Mumbai (Firing)

* Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Formerly Victoria Terminus), the headquarters of Central Railway and a World Heritage Building in south Mumbai (Firing)

* Bade Miyan Gali behind the Hotel Taj (Firing)

* Mazagaon (Explosion)

* Vile Parle suburb in north Mumbai (Explosion)

Four top police officials, including Mumbai Police Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, were among the 11 policemen killed, as security forces took on terrorists in Mumbai in the early hours of Thursday, authorities said.

Two Indian Police Service (IPS) officers – additional police commissioners Ashok Kamte and Sadanand Date – were killed in separate gun battles with terrorists following a series of attacks in India’s financial capital, the officials said.

Mumbai Police “encounter specialist” Vijay Salaskar were also shot dead in another gun battle.

Karkare was heading investigations into several recent cases of terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

There were six other police officials among the at least 80 killed in the coordinated terror attacks late on Wednesday night.

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The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad’s chief Hemant Karkare was gunned down when he was leading an operation at Mumbai’s Taj Hotel against terrorists on Wednesday. He was hit by three bullets in his chest.

Karkare (54) was gunned down when he was leading an operation at Hotel Taj against terrorists who had taken 15 people, including seven foreigners, as hostages. He was hit by three bullets in his chest.

Karkare was probing the September 29 Malegaon blast case. He was an IPS officer of the 1982 batch, who had served with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) for nine years in Austria.

He was a man known for his discipline and fair investigation.