After another day of my routine work in office, 26th Nov late evening 10.30 I reached home where I was welcomed by my wife. But this time her face was grieving with fear and a sense of agony in it. Immediately she pointed me to look at television. News were flashing about random firing on civilians, attacks near CST railway station, firing near Taj and Oberoi Hotel are being heard. We kept watching news and eyes were full of surprises to see within next 1 hr all the events getting converted into a saga of Terrorism. We saw live news being flashed about action by Mumbai police and within few mins Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Mr. Hemant Karkare arrived at the spot near CST station. We saw him on television wearing helmet and bulletproof jacket and being summoned by other police officials about the terror saga. He started his action to trap down terrorists who were freely roaming near CST station.
We kept on watching television during our dinner at 11:30 pm and suddenly news flashed - "ATS chief Mr. Hemant Karkare severly injured". Not even 15 mins were passed and to our shock another news flashed "ATS chief Mr. Karkare dead during the action with terrorists". Wasnt enough here and again in a min news flashed "Encounter specialist along with SP dead". The events within an hour turned into a full blown heneoius act of terrorism. We couldnt beleive the sudden turnaround of events and deaths of top police and ATS officials. A clear sense that the terrorist attack not a small one.
It was late night 1 am when news were flashing that terrorists have taken hostages in Taj and Oberoi Hotel. Army was called up immediately and by late night 2:30 we saw the army vehicles moving towards these Hotels. National Security Guard (NSG - black cat commandos specially trained to deal with terrorism and hostage situations) team was also immediately being asked to join operations in Mumbai.
Ofcourse no one can sleep when their City being attacked and challenged. We got several phone calls from loved ones and friends to check our wellbeing. We kept on watching TV entire night till morning 5:00 am and words cant describe the shock we were in.
Rest entire world knows now what all Mumbai went through for next 67 hrs of terrorist attack.
We felt sick while watching the TV images of a terrorised Mumbai. It was so shocking to see various locations in Mumbai is turned into warzone. We felt "Heartbroken, Helpless, Angry"
The toll in the worst-ever attacks in India mounted to 195 including 10 foreigners and 15 police personnel, 295 others wounded. During the operation, which went for almost 3 days, the country also lost 3 top officials of Mumbai police, One major from NSG and 2 commandos also died and a commando injured.
will continue this post later....
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