Article from: The Times
Alex Chamberlain, a British sports writer, described how gunmen had burst into a hotel restaurant and began herding guests upstairs. “They told everybody to stop and put their hands up and asked if there were any British or Americans. My friend said to me, 'Don't be a hero. Don't say you are British.'”In those opening moments of what would became a night of horror for hundreds of hostages, guests and staff rushed to protect themselves.
On the 25th floor of the Taj, John Alexander, a shipping executive, was meeting a delegation of senior foreign businessmen. “We heard lots of explosions,” he said. “Part of the delegation that had tried to exit the building had been turned back. We decided to barricade ourselves in. That's where I stayed for the next seven hours."
A waiter also barricaded the doors of the Golden Dragon, a Chinese restaurant on the ground floor of the Taj. Diners cowered under their tables for about 30 minutes before being led through a maze of service corridors to the hotel's business centre. The Crystal Room wedding party was making its way to the same sanctuary.
Elsewhere in the hotel, guests fleeing to the rear of the building away from the lobby ran straight into the path of another gunman. Sajjid Karim, a British MEP, said: “He was at the rear gate, holding a large machine gun .He pointed it at the crowd and started to use it.".
About five minutes' drive north from the Taj, at about 10.30pm, four men armed with automatic weapons walked into a restaurant at CST, India's main railway station. They opened fire indiscriminately on the families dining there, changing their magazines three times. “It was a massacre,” one eyewitness said.
At 11.15pm, an American couple, Deb and Gary Hvass were making their way back to their hotel near the Taj. They passed Leopolds, a café popular with western backpackers, which had been attacked about an hour earlier. The shopfront, usually open to the bustle of Apollo Bunder, one of Bombay's most popular tourist streets, was shuttered.
Inside, drinks and meals were left half-consumed. Six bullet holes had pierced a window of a four-wheel drive jeep parked next to the café. Bloodstains streaked the floor. As the couple walked by, a local hissed at them: “Get off the streets. They're looking for your kind."
By 3am, back in the Taj, about 300 people had been holed up in Chambers, the business centre that had been commandeered as a makeshift bunker by guests and staff, for several hours. "It was surprisingly calm," Parizaad Khan said. "The staff were handing out blankets and water." Shortly after 3am, part of the group was told - or decided themselves, Ms Khan is not sure - to make a break for it through a maze of service corridors. They split themselves into parties of about ten people. "I was in the fourth group," Parizaad said. We were waiting to run down these very narrow corridors, but suddenly there were shots very, very close. The group split. Some went on, others turned back. I went back and spent hours face down on the floor, too terrified to move."
By this stage, the police were desperately trying to out how many terrorist had struck and where. Their best guess was at least 26 gunmen at as many as 16 locations. The head of Bombay's anti-terror squad had been shot and killed. Soldiers had assembled around the stricken hotels, apparently preparing to storm the buildings. Across Bombay, chaos reigned: close to the domestic airport, a taxi had blown up. Closer to the Taj, a boat laden with explosives had been discovered and it was thought seven gunmen had taken over a Jewish family's home in a block of flats. More soldiers were gathering outside that building. It was thought that perhaps five terrorists had been killed and at least 80 members of the public had died.
Intelligence sources began muttering about a foreign hand, a thinly veiled nod towards Pakistan.
By 5am, at Bombay's St George Hospital, Peter Keep, a British entrepreneur had counted at least 40 dead bodies. “It's not an experience that will leave me soon," he said.
On India's television networks it was being reported that a previously unknown group called the Deccan Mujahideen had taken responsibility for the attacks. Later, it was claimed that the group had demanded in return for the hostages the release of members of the Indian Mujahideen, a group that has launched a string of devastating bomb attacks across India in recent months.
Meanwhile, the upper floors of the Taj, where it was feared scores of hostages had been taken, had been set ablaze. “The terrorists want to kill everybody,” a senior fireman said. “We have no idea how many people are dead inside.”
Elsewhere in the hotel, guests fleeing to the rear of the building away from the lobby ran straight into the path of another gunman. Sajjid Karim, a British MEP, said: “He was at the rear gate, holding a large machine gun .He pointed it at the crowd and started to use it.".
About five minutes' drive north from the Taj, at about 10.30pm, four men armed with automatic weapons walked into a restaurant at CST, India's main railway station. They opened fire indiscriminately on the families dining there, changing their magazines three times. “It was a massacre,” one eyewitness said.
At 11.15pm, an American couple, Deb and Gary Hvass were making their way back to their hotel near the Taj. They passed Leopolds, a café popular with western backpackers, which had been attacked about an hour earlier. The shopfront, usually open to the bustle of Apollo Bunder, one of Bombay's most popular tourist streets, was shuttered.
Inside, drinks and meals were left half-consumed. Six bullet holes had pierced a window of a four-wheel drive jeep parked next to the café. Bloodstains streaked the floor. As the couple walked by, a local hissed at them: “Get off the streets. They're looking for your kind."
By 3am, back in the Taj, about 300 people had been holed up in Chambers, the business centre that had been commandeered as a makeshift bunker by guests and staff, for several hours. "It was surprisingly calm," Parizaad Khan said. "The staff were handing out blankets and water." Shortly after 3am, part of the group was told - or decided themselves, Ms Khan is not sure - to make a break for it through a maze of service corridors. They split themselves into parties of about ten people. "I was in the fourth group," Parizaad said. We were waiting to run down these very narrow corridors, but suddenly there were shots very, very close. The group split. Some went on, others turned back. I went back and spent hours face down on the floor, too terrified to move."
By this stage, the police were desperately trying to out how many terrorist had struck and where. Their best guess was at least 26 gunmen at as many as 16 locations. The head of Bombay's anti-terror squad had been shot and killed. Soldiers had assembled around the stricken hotels, apparently preparing to storm the buildings. Across Bombay, chaos reigned: close to the domestic airport, a taxi had blown up. Closer to the Taj, a boat laden with explosives had been discovered and it was thought seven gunmen had taken over a Jewish family's home in a block of flats. More soldiers were gathering outside that building. It was thought that perhaps five terrorists had been killed and at least 80 members of the public had died.
Intelligence sources began muttering about a foreign hand, a thinly veiled nod towards Pakistan.
By 5am, at Bombay's St George Hospital, Peter Keep, a British entrepreneur had counted at least 40 dead bodies. “It's not an experience that will leave me soon," he said.
On India's television networks it was being reported that a previously unknown group called the Deccan Mujahideen had taken responsibility for the attacks. Later, it was claimed that the group had demanded in return for the hostages the release of members of the Indian Mujahideen, a group that has launched a string of devastating bomb attacks across India in recent months.
Meanwhile, the upper floors of the Taj, where it was feared scores of hostages had been taken, had been set ablaze. “The terrorists want to kill everybody,” a senior fireman said. “We have no idea how many people are dead inside.”
As the hours passed, they were punctuated by reports of sporadic gunfire at both hotels.
At about 8am on Thursday, Parizaad Khan finally escaped from the Taj. She was herded onto a bus at the lobby door by heavily armed commandos. As it sped away, terrorists opened fire on the fleeing bus. Half an hour later, shorts were heard at the Jewish family's home.
By 9am, there appeared to be a lull. Around this time it is thought that Indian security forces began to creep through both the Taj and the Oberoi, searching for terrorists room-to-room.
Outside the Taj, drivers were still waiting for the clients they had dropped off more than 12 hours earlier. Many companies had established contact with executives trapped in the building: Standard & Poors, the ratings agency, was calling two hostages every 45 minutes.
The following hours saw a tense stand-off between the terrorists and the waiting security forces. An official later claimed the hostage situation at the Taj was over. The call was premature: at about 3pm two more explosions were heard at the hotel. The Indian government later said that 200 hostages were being held at the Oberoi.
By 3.30pm on Thursday, the first death rites of those killed the night before had begun.
At about 8am on Thursday, Parizaad Khan finally escaped from the Taj. She was herded onto a bus at the lobby door by heavily armed commandos. As it sped away, terrorists opened fire on the fleeing bus. Half an hour later, shorts were heard at the Jewish family's home.
By 9am, there appeared to be a lull. Around this time it is thought that Indian security forces began to creep through both the Taj and the Oberoi, searching for terrorists room-to-room.
Outside the Taj, drivers were still waiting for the clients they had dropped off more than 12 hours earlier. Many companies had established contact with executives trapped in the building: Standard & Poors, the ratings agency, was calling two hostages every 45 minutes.
The following hours saw a tense stand-off between the terrorists and the waiting security forces. An official later claimed the hostage situation at the Taj was over. The call was premature: at about 3pm two more explosions were heard at the hotel. The Indian government later said that 200 hostages were being held at the Oberoi.
By 3.30pm on Thursday, the first death rites of those killed the night before had begun.
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