Time to wake up to your Alarm Clock

After all said and done, it has been another hit on the heart of every Indian irrespective of there religion, there cast, there locations. It is a shocking and traumatic experience that not only the hostages and their family have witnessed, but also WE, the we, that cast all Indians are gruesomely frustrated. The repeated attacked on our Motherland has influenced immense believe and confidence in those Terrorist organizations and has shattered all our self believe to live life peacefully. The life of every Indian seems have been deteriorating with every blow that it is incapable to prevent. We really don't know that how many brave hearts like those of ATS chief Hemant Karkare,Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan,NSG hawaldar: Gajendra, Singh Mumbai's additional commissioner of police (east) Ashok Kamte will have to shed their lives when the very politicized society of India will wake up from their hibernation of indifference.

MARCOS : Indian Reply to the Terror Strike at Mumbai

INTRODUCTION

The Marine Commando Force (MCF) is a special forces unit, that was created by the Indian Navy in 1987. For many years, the Indian Navy wanted to establish an elite force for special maritime operations. Prior to this, Navy divers trained in explosive ordnance disposal and Army units were often assigned for maritime exercises. In 1983, the 340th Army Independent Brigade, which had a force of three infantry battalions at Trivandrum, was raised as a special maritime unit. They were assault operations in which both airborne and maritime forces participated. Since then, the Indian Navy has conducted various exercises as a show of force, notably in 1984 in the Andaman Islands and in 1986 off Goa.

In April 1986, the Indian Naval Staff created a plan for a special force which would be able to conduct recon, raids and even counter-terrorist operations in a maritime environment. Three Naval Officers were sent for training with the US Navy SEALS and further training was conducted with British Special Forces. These three Naval Officers formed the first nucleus of the Indian Marine Special Force (IMSF) which was formally raised in February 1987. In 1991, the IMSF had its name changed to the Marine Commando Force (MCF), but they are more familiarly known as MARCOS (Marine Commandos).

OPERATIONS

The IMSF first went into action a few months after its raising, in Sri Lanka, to fight against the LTTE (Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelan). During Operation Pawan, a single battalion of the 340th Army Independent Brigade left the Naval base of Vizag for Jaffna and Batticaloa on board landing ships, together with a detachment of the IMSF which was to provide the beach reconnaissance party. As one of the first IPKF units to be deployed, the 340th Brigade served until operations in the Tricomalee area were complete. Beside leading the beach landings, the IMSF also provided security patrols along the coastal road, west of Jaffna, until the Army's 41st Brigade was able to take charge. On 21 October 1987, a Indian Navy force conducted a successful amphibious raid against a LTTE base at Guru Nagar.

THE MARCOS TODAY

The strength of the unit is a closely guarded secret, however sources say that the number could be close to 2000 personnel, in 10 groups of 200 personnel each. Currently there are three main groups detached to the three naval commands; Mumbai (West), Cochin (South) and Vizag (East). INS Abhimanyu, in Mumbai, is where most of the specialised training is now done. The unit's quick rise has changed the unit's role - it was intended to be dedicated to special maritime operations, but a considerable part of the MARCOS is doubling as marine infantry, assigned to the 340th Brigade, with the usual flexibility of commando forces.

More at the following link :

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NAVY/Marines.html

Mumbai Heroes

ATS chief Hemant Karkare 

The body of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, who was killed while leading from the front in the battle against terrorists attack in Mumbai was on Saturday brought to his home at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai ahead of the funeral.

The cremation was delayed so that his two daughters who live abroad could return in time for the last rites. While his elder daughter Jui is married and lives in the US, the younger Sayali is studying in London. His son Akash is based in Mumbai. 

As terrorists Wednesday night targeted 10 Mumbai landmarks, Karkare donned his helmet and bullet-proof jacket and set out to take them on. The protection, however, proved inadequate and Karkare fell to the terrorists' bullets. In all, 148 people were killed in the attacks and 327 were injured. 

The 58-year-old Karkare, a 1982 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was in the spotlight for leading investigation into the Sep 29 blasts in Maharashtra's Malegaon town. Ten people, including Sadhvi Pragnya Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, were arrested as a result of the probe. 

Karkare had taken over the ATS in January after a seven-year stint with India's external intelligence agency Research Analysis Wing (RAW). 

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan 

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, 31, was martyred while engaging terrorists on Friday at the Taj hotel. He was with the 51 Special Action Group of the force and was with the NSG on deputation. He has been with the Black Cat commando force for the last two years. 

An officer of the Bihar Regiment, he was commissioned in the Indian Army in June 1999. The officer had joined the NSG on deputation in January 2007 after having served two tenures with his battalion in counter insurgency and counter terrorism roles. The officer hails from Bangalore where his father works for the Indian Space Research Organisation. 

The funeral of the NSG Commando officer Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who laid down his life battling the terrorists in the Mumbai attacks, will be held with military honours. 

Major Unnikrishnan body was brought to his house at ISRO layout in the outskirts of the Bangalore, where arrangements had been made for family, friends and well wishers to have a last glimpse of the Mumbai anti-terror hero. 

NSG hawaldar: Gajendra Singh 

The body of NSG hawaldar Gajendra Singh, who died fighting terrorists in Mumbai's Nariman House, was today brought to Delhi before being taken to his native place Dehradun for the last rites. 

All ranks and file of the elite force gathered at NSG headquarters in Palam to pay their tributes to the slain hawaldar. 

The body of Singh, who was a member of NSG's 51 Special Action Group, will be later taken to Dehradun, an NSG spokesperson said.

N.B : Excerpts from leading newspaper

India again being stricked in Terror attack,Mumbai witnesses Shattering Mumbai Dreams

Last month, the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s supreme religious and political head, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, made a signal speech to top functionaries: “The only language India understands is that of force, and that is the language it must be talked to in.”

Had India’s strategic establishment listened, at least 127 people who made the mistake of being in Mumbai on November 26 would still have been alive. If more carnage is to be prevented, it is imperative to understand the culture of strategic deafness that facilitated the murderous attacks.

From the testimony of the arrested fidayeen Ajmal Amin Kamal, the Maharashtra police have got their first insight into the role of Lahore and Karachi-based Lashkar commanders in organising the attacks. Both the Maharashtra police and other intelligence services of the nation seem confident that they will succeed in demonstrating that the guns in the hands of Kamal and his terror squad were directed by commanders in Pakistan.

Comparison with U.S.

But even as India debates what the authorship of the attacks will mean to Pakistan-India relations, commentators have been scrambling to contrast India’s responses to terror with that of the United States. While the U.S. has succeeded in blocking successive attempts to execute attacks on its soil since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the argument goes, India’s failure has been dismal.

Politicians have been quick to agree, blaming India’s intelligence services for failing to predict the Mumbai terror attack. In fact, the available evidence suggests that the boot is on the other foot: despite credible intelligence that terrorists were planning attacks in Mumbai and elsewhere, India’s political leadership failed to act.

Back in 2002, Indian intelligence informants began reporting that Lashkar operatives were being trained in marine commando techniques along the Mangla Dam, which straddles the border between Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the province of Punjab. It soon became clear that the Lashkar, which found it increasingly difficult to penetrate India’s Line of Control defences, was hoping to open new routes across the Indian Ocean — routes which would give it easy access to key cities like Mumbai.

In 2006, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil was disturbed enough by what India’s covert services were telling him to make a specific mention of the need to step up counter-terrorism defences. Among the intelligence that Mr. Patil based his speech on was the evolving story of Faisal Haroun, a top Lashkar operative who commanded the terror group’s India-focussed operations out of Bangladesh. In September 2006, Haroun was briefly held by Bangladesh authorities before he was quietly deported. But a west European covert service obtained transcripts of his questioning by Bangladesh’s Directorate-General of Field Intelligence — evidence which shook up even India’s Home Minister.

Haroun, it turned out, had been using a complex shipping network, and merchant ships and small fishing boats, to move explosives to the Lashkar units operating in India. Among the end-users of these supplies was Ghulam Yazdani, a Hyderabad resident who commanded a series of attacks, including the assassination of Gujarat pogrom-complicit former Home Minister Haren Pandya and the June 2005 bombing of the Delhi-Patna Shramjeevi Express. Investigators probing the Haroun story determined that his network had helped to land a giant consignment of explosives and assault rifles on the Maharashtra coast for an abortive 2006 Lashkar-led attempt to bomb Gujarat.

India’s intelligence services determined that Haroun had been attempting to set up an Indian Ocean base for the Lashkar. Along with a Male-based Maldives resident, Ali Assham, Haroun had studied the prospect of using a deserted island for building a Lashkar storehouse, from where weapons and explosives could be moved to Kerala and then to the rest of India. In 2007, when evidence emerged of heightened Islamist activity in Maldives — including the bombing of tourists in Male’s Sultan Park and the setting up of a Sharia-run mini-state on the Island of Himandhoo — the seriousness of the threat to India’s western seaboard became even more evident.

Last year, the Lashkar’s maritime capabilities were underlined once again, when a group of eight fidayeen landed off Mumbai’s coast. On that occasion, a superbly crafted intelligence operation enabled Coast Guard ships to track the landing. Police in Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir, acting on information provided by the Intelligence Bureau, arrested the fidayeen. However, it was clear that the networks Haroun was able to build were up and running.

Based on these warnings, New Delhi moved to step up coastal counter-infiltration measures. In its 2007-2008 Annual Report, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs detailed the measures put in place for “strengthening coastal security arrangements, to check infiltration.” In liaison with the nine coastal States and Union Territories, it said, funds had been earmarked to set up “73 coastal police stations which will be equipped with 204 boats, 153 jeeps and 312 motorcycles for mobility on coast and in close coastal waters. The coastal police stations will also have a marine police with personnel trained in maritime activities.”

N.B : Excerpts from leading newspaper

Terror at Mumbai : Chronological View

Suspected Terror Ship found :

M V Alpha, a ship which is suspected to have carried the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, was found 112 km from here by the Coast Guard, officials said.A CG spokesman said that searches were being carried out on board the ship but declined to elaborate. The Coast Guard had launched two aircraft, choppers and its vessels after receiving information that the ship could have carried the terrorists from Gujarat to Mumbai.

Hanuman Chalisa helps Taj resident maintain calm

'Hanuman Chalisa' prayer book and a photograph of Siddhi Vinayak helped a stranded resident in the Taj Hotel here to remain calm as a gun battle raged between terrorists and security forces outside the hotel.

Still no Sign of Sabina :

The Times of India's Sabina Sehgal Saikia consulting editor and resident food critic was in the Taj that terror night when the Terror struck. She was in touch with the closed ones but have lost all the contacts and as per the latest report her chances of survival is getting blick every moment.

NSG sieges TAJ,takes control of Nariman Point: all terrorist gunned down:

The Real life heroes the NSG and the MARCOS (Marine Commandos) finally ended the turnmoil. I still fell fascinated when i saw those live pictures in television news channel in the morning showing those brave hearts landing on the roof top from helicoptor much like a movie sequence. When it was more than a movie, it was the combative operations of those dare devil officers, We are certainly proud of them. They are the best of the best. More about the Marcos in the below link :

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NAVY/Marines.html

Fingers on Pakistan; Pakistan to send there ISI representive to India to help investigation :

As per the investigation authority in India, there is a clear link to Pakistan's ISI with the recent Terror strike at India. Indian PM Manmohan singh has appealed his counter part in Pakistan to send the ISI chief to India,which the later has agreed upon. But has taken a dramatic U-turn and agreed to send the ISI representative instead of the chief.

Many Big Names among those who have been slained

While Taj hotel's casualty list is not available, the names that emerged from the Oberoi confirmed people's worst fears. The list included well-known names from Mumbai's business and social circles.

Among the others who were killed in the Oberoi hotel hold up was real estate developer Pankaj Shah, who controls Satellite Group. He was setting up a multi-storey building on the bungalow plot at Doongersey Road, off Nepean Sea Road. In 2006, a consortium led by Shah also emerged as the highest bidder for the Morarka bungalow at Nepean Sea Road for Rs 170 crore. He was in the process of constructing a luxury apartment block on this land. 

Shah's wife Kalpana runs Tao Art gallery at Worli. "He was not even scheduled to be at the hotel. He was on his way to Delhi but turned around from the airport as he was aksed to be an arbitrator for a property dispute and the conference was held at Oberoi," a close friend said. 

Another builder, Kishor Bajaj, who also owns the popular Seijo and Soul Dish in Bandra, was also dining at the Oberoi, but managed to escape through the kitchen. Poonam Advani, wife of Dinesh Advani (who owns Shalimar Hotel, a popular landmark in Kemps Corner) also managed to escape. However, her sister and brother-in-law, Lavina and Rohit Harjani, did not make it. 

Actor Ashish Chaudhary was devastated when he saw his sister Monica and her husband's bodies on Friday. The couple were dining at Tiffin when they were mowed down on Wednesday. The list of deceased, available with BMC, also includes Ravi Dara (an executive of the Kirloskar group), Sanjay Aggarwal, Rita Aggarwal, Murath Amersey, Lubria Amersey, Jordan Fernandes, Ajit Chhabria and Monica Chhabria.

Battle for Mumbai ends, death toll rises to 195

Security forces freed the landmark Taj hotel here after an intense night-long firing amid a series of explosions, with three terrorists 

Smoke and flames billow out of the Taj Mahal hotel moments after the hotel was freed from terrorists.

"Three terrorists have been killed but we are still continuing our operations," Director General of NSG, J K Dutt, told reporters outside the hotel.

Mumbai disaster official R Jadhav told that 195 people had been killed and nearly 300 injured in the battle, which began when the dozen or so militants split into groups to attack multiple targets across the city, including the main railway station and a hospital.

The operation to flush out terrorists from Taj Hotel is over, signalling an end to the 62-hour siege by terrorists three of whom were killed this morning in an assault by the elite commandos of National Security Guards (NSG).

However, the NSG is still sanitising the hotel to check if any remaining terrorist or explosive is still in the 400-room hotel, NSG Director General J K Dutt told reporters. 

An AK-47 rifle was also recovered from them. "There was lot of shooting. Grenades were lobbed and explosives were used by the terrorists," he said. 

On whether all the terrorists have been killed and hotel is now free, Dutt said that it could be ascertained after the combing operation is over. 

"All operations are over. All the terrorists have been killed," Mumbai police chief Hassan Gafoor said, as the special forces units emerged from the smoke-filled hotel and firemen moved in to douse a fierce blaze. 

"They were the kind of people with no remorse -- anybody and whomsoever came in front of them they fired," an Indian commando said of the young gunmen. 

During the night, terrorists holed out in the hotel engaged in a fierce gun battle with security forces as some places in the first and the ground floors of the 565-room building set afire by terrorists amid explosions in the over 100-year-old heritage complex in the Colaba area.

N.B : Excerpts from leading newspaper

Enough is Enough : India Witnesses worst terror strike

It was early in the morning when i browsed in the news websites to read some morning news it awestuck me with the Breaking news which really turned out to be breaking in few hours to the horror of all Human mind [Mind it Human] across the world. Yes friends it was the beginning of the worst ordeal of trauma the Mumbaikars and the world would witness for the next 60 hours. The self proclaimed "Deccan Mujahideen" 

In one of the most violent terror attacks on Indian soil, Mumbai came under an unprecedented night attack as terrorists used heavy machine guns, including AK-47s, and grenades to strike at the city's most high-profile targets -- the hyper-busy CST (formerly VT) rail terminus; the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway and the luxury Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point; the domestic airport at Santa Cruz; the Cama and GT hospitals near CST; the Metro Adlabs multiplex and Mazgaon Dockyard -- killing at least 101 and sending hundreds of injured to hospital, according to latest reports.
The attacks have taken a tragic toll on the city's top police brass: The high-profile chief of the anti-terror squad Hemant Karkare was killed; Mumbai's additional commissioner of police (east) Ashok Kamte was gunned down outside the Metro; and celebrated encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar was also killed. The nation pays tribute to ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and NSG hawaldar Gajendra Singh who died fighting terrorists in Mumbai.

Please pay tribute to these Heroes our soil here : 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tributes.cms

N.B : Excerpts from leading newspaper