Maharashtra CM, Governor pay tribute to 26/11 terror attack victims

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 26 (ANI): Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday laid wreaths at the Police Memorial at the Gateway of India and and paid tribute to whose who lost their lives in the deadly Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attacks
The three-day siege in Mumbai began on November 26, 2008, when 10 terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) organisation arrived by sea and in coordinated attacks on multiple locations across Mumbai, killed 166 people, including 18 security officials, and injured over 300 others.
Twenty security force personnel and 26 foreign nationals, were killed in the terror attacks.
After sailing to the city under the cover of darkness, the terrorists targeted major landmarks of Mumbai with the first attack taking place at the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station.
Terrorists Ajmal Amir Kasab and Ismail Khan carried out the attack at this station, killing as many as 58 people and injuring over 100.
Kasab and Khan later entered to attack Cama Hospital, but the same was thwarted by the alertness of the hospital staff. They, however, killed six police officials, including the city’s Anti-Terrorism Squad Hemant Karkare in an ambush after leaving the hospital.
The second site of the attack was the Nariman House business and residential complex where a Rabbi, his wife, and six others, including five Israeli citizens, were killed by the terrorists who first held them hostage.
The two-year-old child of the Rabbi couple, Moshe, survived the attack. Then ‘Baby Moshe’ became the face of the innocent victims of ruthless terrorism.
The third site to come under attack on 26/11 was the Leopold Cafe followed by Taj Mahal Hotel and Tower. Four terrorists attacked the famous cafe before entering the iconic Taj hotel, killing as many as 31 people after laying a three-day siege at the hotel.
The other site to come under attack was the Oberoi-Trident hotel where another group of two terrorists entered at almost the same time, as the other four had entered the Taj. At the Oberoi-Trident hotel, the siege officially ended on the evening of November 28 with as many as 30 being killed in the horrific attack.
The attack and seizure finally culminated on the morning of November 29, 2008, after the National Security Guards (NSG) secured the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.
By the time commandos of the National Security Guards (NSG) gunned down the last terrorists who had been holed up in south Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace hotel, over 160 people were killed and hundreds were left injured.
After the attack, it was established that the 10 terrorists had sailed to Mumbai from Pakistan’s port city, Karachi. Their voyage to Mumbai involved hijacking a fishing dingy and killing four of the five men crew, leaving one occupant to ferry them to the Mumbai coast.
In these gruesome attacks, 9 terrorists were killed and the lone survivor, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was caught and sentenced to death at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune.He was hanged on November 21, 2012.
The Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), whose mastermind was Hafiz Saeed, is believed to have plotted the 26/11 attacks. (ANI)