Detail Of Terrorism Update

The death toll in the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which began on November 26-night and is still continuing, has increased to 130 while 327 persons have been reported injured. Officially 400 persons were evacuated from the Taj Mahal hotel and about 70 from the Hotel Trident.

Meanwhile, the rescue operations have reached the final stage with National Security Guards (NSG) commandos being air-ped from a chopper at Nariman House, where two to three terrorists are believed to be holed up and the police have cordoned off the entire Trident hotel, reported Times of India. The Hindu quoted Maharashtra Director-General of Police A.N. Roy as saying that four suspected terrorists were killed in the Taj Mahal hotel operation and that more deaths were likely. One of the terrorists reportedly holed up in the Trident hotel had been killed in a commando raid and one militant was neutralised by crack commandos and is injured at the Nariman House, according to NSG Director- General J.K. Dutt. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh informed that 20 to 25 suspected terrorist had entered Mumbai and so far seven of them have been killed. The Chief Minister said nine persons had been detained.

Maharashtra Police investigators said that they have evidence that operatives of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) carried out the Fidayeen (suicide squad) attacks in Mumbai. An injured militant, identified as Ajmal Amir Kamal, was arrested during the fighting at the Taj Mahal hotel, is suspected to be a LeT cadre and a resident of Faridkot near Multan in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Reportedly two other citizens of Pakistan have also been arrested in Mumbai on November 27. All three of them, identified themselves as members of a LeT Fidayeen squad, the sources said. Based on the interrogation of the suspects, the investigators believe that one or more groups of the LeT left Karachi in a merchant ship early on November 26. On the same night, an estimated 12 terrorists left the ship in a small boat and travelled some 10 nautical miles to reach Mumbai’s Gateway of India. After reaching Gateway of India, the group split up into at least six groups, each focussing on a separate target - Mumbai’s Nariman House, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus rail station, the Cama hospital, the Girgaum seafront, and the Taj and Trident hotels.

Six persons, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), were killed in incidents of violence in the Swat Valley on November 27, The News reported. DSP Abdul Wadud, who was on duty in Buner district, had come to see his family in Mingora where he was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Green Square. In another incident, the body of a taxi driver, identified as Munir, was found in Balogram, situated near Mingora. Further, a civilian, Sher Gul, was shot dead in Mamdherai, the former headquarters of militants. In addition, suspected militants shot dead a person, Muhammad Naeem, on New Road. A councillor, Rahmat, who was abducted a few days back, was killed and his body thrown in the Arkot area of Matta sub-division. Another person, Bakht Sher, a resident of Buner, was wounded after being shot at allegedly by the security forces. He later succumbed to injuries at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the militants attacked a bus carrying security force personnel to Madyan at Fatehpur with a remote-controlled bomb. However, no casualties were reported in the incident.

According to Telegraph, when six persons, including four truck drivers and two excavator operators, were collecting soil near the Maphou dam site in Nongdam Tangkhul, around five to six militants forced them out of their vehicles and opened fire on them, killing five of them on November 26-night. The other victim of the attack, Heikrujam Inaobi, sustained bullet injuries. He managed to escape to the nearest security outpost on November 27-night. The slain persons were identified as Yumnam Kumar Singh, Thounaojam Nongal, Loitongbam Naobi Singh, Mohammed Manjur and Debendra Thapa. The Masphu dam is being built over the Thoubal river at the tri-junction of Imphal East, Senapati and Ukhrul districts.

Five people were killed and two others injured in a bomb blast in South Waziristan on November 27, Daily Times reported. Official sources said a jeep carrying seven people was blown up in the Khaisor area of Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan. The sources, however, said it was not clear if the victims were local or foreign militants, as the town is believed to be the hub of al Qaeda terrorists and Taliban.

An unspecified number of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants were killed and several others injured as clashes erupted between the two sides in the Kumulamunai area of Vavuniya district on November 26, reports Sri Lanka Army. Troops later recovered the dead bodies of five militants, including three female cadres. One female militant was also arrested with gunshot injuries. Four T-56 weapons, one hand-held radio set, one Global Positioning System, one pouch, one harness, one belt order and five hand grenades were also recovered from the incident site. During another clash in the same area, the security forces (SFs) captured one LTTE camp.

At Andankulam, the SFs clashed with the militants and inflicted heavy casualties upon the outfit.

Meanwhile, troops continued their advance further towards Kilinochchi attacking LTTE camps in the Akkarayankulam area of Kilinochchi district.

Suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants shot dead a Hindu priest, Subramanium Kamalaraj, the chief priest of the Sri Sivamuttu Kali Amman Kovil (Temple), at Mamangama in Batticaloa, reports Colombo Page.

Meanwhile, troops in the Amman Nagar area of Muttur in the Trincomalee district recovered one Rocket Propeller Gun bomb, one T-56 weapon, three magazines, two hand grenades, six anti-personnel mines, six fuses, five 60-mm mortar bombs and six detonators.

A teacher, identified as Korugattla Pagidiraju, was shot dead by three suspected cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) in the Eturunagaram mandal (administrative unit) of Warangal district on November 27-late evening, The Hindu reported. The Maoists reportedly accused him of being a police informer.

Meanwhile, a huge cache of arms and ammunition belonging to the Maoists, including five claymore mines, 20 gelatine sticks, 10 electrical detonators, one camera flash hider, 10 batteries and several electrical switches and plugs, was recovered by the Police during a search operation at Puthikavalasa village in the Srikakulam district.

According to Odishatoday.com cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) shot dead Asirama (35) of Kotanpalli village under MV-96 area of Malkangiri district, on November 22 suspecting him to be a police informer.

The Pioneer reports that the Commercial Tax Department at the Jamsola integrated check gate on Mayurbhanj border has received a letter threatening them of dire consequences if the corrupt personnel do not mend their ways. The sender of the letter claimed to be a CPI-Maoist cadre. The threatening letter was posted from Bahudagoda in Jharkhand and was received by the Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer, Jamsola gate.

A policeman on November 27 shot dead a civilian after mistakenly suspecting him for a militant, Daily Times reported. According to details, a policeman deployed at a check-post near Hangu Police Training College opened fire on a man who was passing by the check-post, suspecting he was a militant. However, on inspection of his identity card, the deceased was identified as Muhammad Karim, the owner of a local hotel in Hangu.

Elsewhere in the province, police seized a truck loaded with arms and ammunition at Ghulsinabad check-post in the limits of Jangalkhel police station in Kohat district and arrested one accused in this connection, according to The News.

A soldier was wounded when some unidentified gunmen opened fire on the patrol party of the army from across the India-Pakistan border in Khour area of Akhnoor on November 27-night, Kashmir Times reported. Official sources in Jammu said that unidentified assailants fired indiscriminately from across the border on the army patrol party at the Border out Post in Khour along the Line of Control (LoC) in Akhnoor sector of Jammu district. The exchange of fire between the two sides continued from fifteen minutes.

Dharitri reports that cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) set ablaze a jeep of the forest department at Digha in the Serenda forest area in Orissa-Jharkhand boarder on November 26 just a day before ‘Martyr’s Day’ celebration. After the incident, a high alert was declared in the boarder area and the Police of both states have launched a combing operation.

A bomb weighing five kilograms was recovered and defused from a cattle shed of one Abdul Haque of Helanarpam near Howli in the Barpeta district on November 27, according to Assam Tribune. Abdul Haque and Farhad Ali, a resident of Sukmanah were arrested in this connection.

One suspected Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agent, identified as Nazrul Islam, who escaped from the Mekhliganj court lockup on June 25, 2003, was arrested by police from the New Market area in capital Kolkata on November 19, reports The Statesman. Nazrul, reportedly an ISI agent and a Bangladesh national, was arrested in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan on September 8, 2002, and was first produced in the Mekhliganj Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Court on October 12. Meanwhile, he was produced in the court of the chief judicial magistrate of Kamrup at Guwahati in Assam on January 20, 2003, in connection with another case and was remanded in judicial custody.

A cadre of the ‘finance wing’ of the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), identified as Wanpalei Ryngkhlem alias Palei, was arrested by the Meghalaya Police from Polo area in capital Shillong on November 25, according to Shillong Times. Police said the outfit is conducting an extortion drive in various parts of Shillong. The modus operandi, according to police, is that HNLC ‘authorises’ certain people to collect money and then send it to its leaders who are camping in Bangladesh. The coal belt regions in Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills are the other areas where the HNLC has launched extortion drive to fill its coffers. Police sources said the HNLC had struck deals with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) for such a drive. The report added that top HNLC leaders holed up in Bangladesh are reportedly facing severe crisis of cash and cadres, forcing them to join hands with the NSCN and NDFB and rope in certain individuals who could help the Khasi outfit in extorting money from businessmen, coal traders and others in the State.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, while vowing to fight on and evict Government forces from their ''land'', said his organization wants to stop the war and seek a peaceful resolution to the national question of the Tamil people, reported Colombo Page. In his "Hero’s Day" speech, an annual ritual followed since 1989, delivered from an undisclosed location in the