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‘We thought we were fighting commandos’Haidar Naqvi, Hindustan Times Kanpur, November 29, 2008First Published: 02:22 IST(29/11/2008) | Last Updated: 02:25 IST(29/11/2008)

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The men they took on at the two besieged Mumbaihotels — the Taj and the Trident — weren’t just terrorists,they fought like army regulars and even trainedcommandos, said some of the people involved in theoperations at the luxury hotels.

They told the Hindustan Times over the phone that theyhad a strong feeling they were up against verywell-trained men, adept at warfare tactics andmovements. “Their training is excellent; they werebehaving the way Indian commandos would have, if theywere playing terrorists in Pakistan,” they said over thetelephone. These people can’t be identified as they aren’tauthorised to speak to the media.

“At times, we found them matching us in combat and movement; itwas their high degree of training which was prolonging the operationevery hour. They’re either army regulars or have done a long stint ofcommando training,” they said.

A little hesitant in labelling them ‘militants’, the sources said the menknew the Taj like the back of their hand. They had taken positions at strategic places when the hotel wasstormed, even succeeded in hitting and injuring two commandos and “didn’t allow the teams to move fortwo to three hours, using grenades in best possible fashion at around 6.30 am on Thursday”.

The teams retaliated, pushing them back to take upper floors. First they entered the kitchen where theysaw bodies. “There were around 50 bodies, almost heaped over each other; there were no survivors,” theysaid. The forces then shifted focus to the close circuit television monitor room to ascertain the positions ofhostage-takers. The move, however, had been pre-empted — the room had been burnt down.

The security teams then slowly moved to Chamber Hall on the second floor and found nearly 200 peopleheld hostage. There were three armed men pacing the floor, with exits points under their control.

Soon, a fierce battle started. After four-five hours of exchange of fire, the terrorists made a hasty retreatthrough a hidden door, which the security teams didn’t even know existed. Of the 200 hostages, 125 wereforeigners who just couldn’t stop thanking the forces. It was in this hall that the credits cards, AK

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magazines, an identity card issued in Mauritius and some China-made grenades were recovered.

The terrorists had a distinct advantage “because of their better knowledge of the topography”, the sourcessaid.

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‘We thought we were fighting commandos’ - Hindustan Times http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/UttarPradesh/We-thought-we-were-fighting-comm...

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