12-01-2008, 10:08 PM
<b>Mehul's analysis and unanswered questions</b>:
"The primary target seems to have been to capture the Taj and Oberoi
hotels and take a bunch of hostages.
The events at VT, Leopold's, Metro etc were diversions to create panic
and ensure the police were spread thin and could not respond quickly
to calls from the 2 hotels.
If the motive was to inflict maximum damage, the terrorists seem to
have done very poorly with the resources they had in terms of time,
ammunition and equipment. <b>They had more than 600 people locked in the
2 hotels for more than 10 hours before the NSG got there...An AK-47
can fire 600 rounds per minute.</b>
From about 10:30 pm on 26th November to about 8 am on 27th November
there was a complete standoff at both the hotels. There were a few
guests who managed to get out at about 3 am from the Taj but there was
no full scale assault by the Indian forces till the NSG got there at 8 am.
What took place during that period of 10 hours is the key to
understanding the motive of the terrorists.
<b>If the terrorists just wanted to kill everyone, they had ample
opportunity to do so. They were obviously holding out for some kind of
deal. Did the NSG spend those 10 hours negotiating a deal? Did they
even make contact?</b> I find it hard to believe that the NSG stormed the
place and rescued almost every person taken hostage.
<b>The other worrying thing is..what prevented the terrorists (or some of
them) from getting rid of their guns and just walking out of the
hotel, pretending to be one of the hotel guests?</b> Hundreds of people
got out of the Taj at 3-4am. Were all of them questioned?
<b>The presence of American intelligence officials at the Taj that night
adds another twist. There were also a group of EU officials present at
the Taj for an Indo-EU summit.</b> The terrorists had also captured group
of Israelis at Nariman house. What happened to these groups? Who
exactly were they? Were they the targets?
The circumstances in which three top Mumbai policemen charged with
investigating the underworld were shot is puzzling as well. <b>Only a
trained sharpshooter with inside information could have managed to do
this. The fact that the sniper then got away in the police van adds
further credence to the fact that he had help from the inside.</b>"
"The primary target seems to have been to capture the Taj and Oberoi
hotels and take a bunch of hostages.
The events at VT, Leopold's, Metro etc were diversions to create panic
and ensure the police were spread thin and could not respond quickly
to calls from the 2 hotels.
If the motive was to inflict maximum damage, the terrorists seem to
have done very poorly with the resources they had in terms of time,
ammunition and equipment. <b>They had more than 600 people locked in the
2 hotels for more than 10 hours before the NSG got there...An AK-47
can fire 600 rounds per minute.</b>
From about 10:30 pm on 26th November to about 8 am on 27th November
there was a complete standoff at both the hotels. There were a few
guests who managed to get out at about 3 am from the Taj but there was
no full scale assault by the Indian forces till the NSG got there at 8 am.
What took place during that period of 10 hours is the key to
understanding the motive of the terrorists.
<b>If the terrorists just wanted to kill everyone, they had ample
opportunity to do so. They were obviously holding out for some kind of
deal. Did the NSG spend those 10 hours negotiating a deal? Did they
even make contact?</b> I find it hard to believe that the NSG stormed the
place and rescued almost every person taken hostage.
<b>The other worrying thing is..what prevented the terrorists (or some of
them) from getting rid of their guns and just walking out of the
hotel, pretending to be one of the hotel guests?</b> Hundreds of people
got out of the Taj at 3-4am. Were all of them questioned?
<b>The presence of American intelligence officials at the Taj that night
adds another twist. There were also a group of EU officials present at
the Taj for an Indo-EU summit.</b> The terrorists had also captured group
of Israelis at Nariman house. What happened to these groups? Who
exactly were they? Were they the targets?
The circumstances in which three top Mumbai policemen charged with
investigating the underworld were shot is puzzling as well. <b>Only a
trained sharpshooter with inside information could have managed to do
this. The fact that the sniper then got away in the police van adds
further credence to the fact that he had help from the inside.</b>"