Fourteen years ago, ten men stormed into Mumbai and for the next three days, the maximum city was caught in the grip of terror.
The armed militants had attacked quite a few locations in Mumbai — a hospital, a railway station, a restaurant, a Jewish centre and two luxury hotels, including Taj Mahal Palace. 166 people were killed and over 300 were injured in the attacks.
The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, located just near the Gateway of India was under siege for more than 60 hours, starting November 26 by four heavily armed militants. Armed with AK 47s, ammunition and grenades, they made their way to the lobby area, firing on anyone and everyone who caught their sight.
Around midnight that day, Mumbai Police surrounded the Taj Hotel. By this time, many of the guests inside the hotel were safely huddled up by the staff in small rooms. The central dome of the Taj Hotel was bombed at around 1 am, which led to a massive fire in the building.
A team of 200 NSG commandos reached Mumbai from New Delhi the next day (November 27) and took charge of the rescue operations at the Taj and Oberoi. They had direct orders to storm the buildings from higher authorities. In the following hours, evacuations took place in batches.
It was only on November 29 that the NSG commandos announced that the Taj had been cleared of all militants.
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