MUMBAI: Commandos killed the last remaining gunman in the Taj Mahal Hotel here to end a devastating attack by Islamic militants on India’s financial capital that left 195 dead, including 26 foreigners.
Shortly after dawn on the third day of the siege, heavy gunfire and loud explosions signalled the final commando offensive against the militants, who had held hundreds of security personnel at bay for 60 hours.
”All operations are over. All the terrorists have been killed,” city police chief Hassan Gafoor said, as the special forces units emerged from the smoke-filled hotel and firemen moved in to douse a fierce blaze.
On Friday, elite troops had stormed a Mumbai Jewish centre and killed two gunmen – but also found six dead Israeli hostages, including a US-based rabbi and his wife, who were murdered as the commandos closed in.
Another luxury hotel which was attacked, the Oberoi Trident, was declared clear of militants late Friday, with scores of trapped guests rescued and 24 bodies found.
"They were the kind of people with no remorse – anybody and whomsoever came in front of them they fired at,” an Indian commando said of the young gunmen.The head of the commando forces, J.K. Dutt, said his men were conducting a final sweep of the battle-scarred Taj.
”We are now going through each and every room to make sure it is safe,” he said, appealing to any guests still hidden in the hotel to make themselves known.
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