The ghastly attacks lasted for four days killing 166 people and injuring over 300.
Tributes are pouring in since this morning as the country and the world remembers the victims who had lost their lives, eleven years ago in the Mumbai terror attacks which begin on November 26, 2008.
The ghastly attacks lasted for four days killing 166 people and injuring over 300.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday remembered the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks on its eleventh anniversary and said that the nation is committed to defeating all forms of terrorism.
“On the 11th anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks, we remember everyone who lost their lives and mourn with their families. A grateful nation salutes the security personnel who made the supreme sacrifice. We remain firm in our resolve to defeat all forms of terrorism,” he tweeted. Mumbai had come to a standstill on this day 11 years ago when 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists who came to Mumbai via sea route from Pakistan carried out a series of coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across the city.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday paid tribute to the victims of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and offered his salutations to the bravery and devotion of security personnel.
“My tributes to all those who lost their lives in the dastardly Mumbai terror attack of 2008. We stand in solidarity with the bereaved families. I salute the bravery and devotion of our security personnel who laid down their lives to protect the motherland,” Naidu said.
US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus took to Twitter saying 11 years ago, “a cowardly act of terrorism” took the lives of 166 people, including six US citizens.
“Today we remember the victims of the #MumbaiTerrorAttack, and stand with their families in demanding that those responsible for this heinous event face justice,” she added.
Twenty-Six Eleven, as these attacks are often referred to as, witnessed 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists came to Mumbai and carried out a series of coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across the city.
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.
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 with the alertness of the hospital staff. They, however, killed 6 police officials, including city’s Anti-Terrorism Squad Hemant Karkare in an ambush after leaving the hospital.
The second site of the attack was 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 as a hostage.
The two-year-old child of the Rabbi couple, Moshe, survived in the attack. Then ‘Baby Moshe’ became a 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 carried out the attack at the famous cafe before entering the iconic Taj hotel, where they killed as many as 31 people after laying a three-day siege at the hotel.
The other site to come under attack during the 26/11 was Oberoi-Trident hotel where another group of two terrorists entered at almost the same time, as other four had entered Taj. At 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 seize 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 Mumbai coast.
In these gruesome attacks, 9 terrorists were killed and the lone survivor, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was caught and was sentenced to death at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune in 2012.
The Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), whose mastermind was Hafiz Saeed, was believed to have plotted the 26/11 attacks.
New Delhi has, time and again, protested against Islamabad for harboring Saeed, who is wanted for allegedly plotting the 2008 attack. India’s stand on Hafiz has been supported by many International personalities including a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director and former Afghanistan President.
Former CIA Director David Howell Petraeus in January 2018, said that there is substantial evidence against Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief and UN-designated global terrorist Hafiz Saeed for his role in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
A day after in the same month, former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai also remarked that there is plenty of evidence against Saeed for his role in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and everyone knows about it.
In May 2018, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also asserted that terrorists sent by Pakistan were responsible for the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks that claimed over 160 lives.
Days after Nawaj’s not so subtle confessions about Pakistan’s involvement in Mumbai attacks, the United States State Department said that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind is a tremendous concern to Washington.
“We are concerned about the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks. And he’s a Lashkar-e-Taiba guy who was being held in Pakistan, and he was eventually let out on house arrest, and we have a reward out for,” said spokesperson Heather Nauert while responding to Sharif’s remark.
