Taj Mahal hotel owner: We had warning

The Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, India, temporarily increased security after being warned of a possible terrorist attack, the chairman of the company that owns the hotel said Saturday.

But Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata said those measures, which were eased shortly before this week’s terror attacks, could not have prevented gunmen from entering the hotel.

“If I look at what we had … it could not have stopped what took place,” Tata said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that will air Sunday.

“It’s ironic that we did have such a warning, and we did have some measures,” Tata said, without elaborating on the warning or when security measures were enacted. “People couldn’t park their cars in the portico, where you had to go through a metal detector.”

- from CNN

At the end of a three-day standoff with militants amid a gunfight and a blazing fire Saturday at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel, the removal of the bodies from the ruins of the 105-year-old landmark began.

At the main city hospital morgue, relatives clutched one another in grief as they went to identify their dead. By midafternoon, the morgue was running out of body bags, and by evening the death toll had risen to 172, a figure that was sure to rise once the dead from the Taj hotel were counted. Funerals went on throughout the day.

As the reckoning began after the siege here, troubling questions arose about whether Indian authorities could have anticipated the attack, taken better security precautions in a city as vulnerable as Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, or crushed the attackers more swiftly. – from IHT

The morning after the standoff ended at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel, the official death toll remained 172. But the police said they were still waiting for the final figures of dead bodies pulled from the wreckage from the hotel, a 105-year-old landmark. Funerals were scheduled to continue throughout Sunday, for the second day in a row.

As an investigation moved forward, there were questions about whether Indian authorities could have anticipated the attack and had better security in place, especially after a 2007 report to Parliament that the country’s shores were inadequately protected from infiltration by sea — which is how the attackers sneaked into Mumbai.

- from NYTimes

Mumbai Terrorist Siege Over, India Says

Here’s the morning buzz roundup on the terror in India…

The full scope of the horror and desperation of the terrorist attack on Mumbai began to come into focus on Saturday after Indian commandos finally took control of the last nest of resistance.

Government officials said Saturday afternoon that the death toll had risen to 162 and was likely to rise again. They also said 283 people had been wounded.

Most of the dead were apparently Indian citizens, but at least 18 foreigners were killed and 22 had been injured, said Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra State. At least five Americans were believed to have died in the attacks.

Just 10 militants, the city’s police commissioner suggested Saturday, had caused all the mayhem.

“With confidence I can say that 10 terrorists came in,” said the commissioner, Hasan Gafoor. “We killed nine of them and one was captured alive.” – from NYtimes

Indian security officials say they have regained control of Mumbai following the most extended terrorist assault in the country’s history. Some 60 hours after a group of gunmen threw India’s commercial capital into bloody chaos, officials say all of the suspected Islamic militants have been killed or captured. VOA correspondent Steve Herman reports from New Delhi on the end of the days of turmoil that has left nearly 200 people dead.

Along the Colaba coastline, at the Gateway of India, gunfire punctuated the early morning hours Saturday.

Inside and around the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, a building synonymous with modern Indian luxury, commandos tossed grenades and set fires to flush out the remaining terrorists. – from india

Indian commandos have killed the last Islamist gunmen barricaded in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal hotel, ending a three-day battle that has left at least 195 people dead and wrecked landmarks across the city.

Heavy gunfire was heard and flames leapt from the windows of the historic waterfront hotel as troops from India’s crack Black Cats unit engaged in a running battle with the remaining terrorists through rooms and corridors this morning.

Shortly afterwards, the Mumbai police chief, Hasan Gafoor, said his force had regained control of the hotel, where the terrorists were believed to have used hostages as human shields. At least three militants and one soldier were killed, said the Indian special forces chief, Jyoti Krishna Dutt. – from Guardian