Deadly delay in calling the marine commandos

A disturbing truth is emanating from the 60-hour terror ordeal that left Mumbai angry and a nation stunned. The word is out that the marine commandos, better known as the Marcos, could have been called much earlier.

Indecision on the part of the state authorities delayed the operation of the naval special forces, according to official sources familiar with the situation.

A senior state police official called the Naval headquarters at Mumbai, asking for help, about an hour after the first round of gunfire. But it is believed that there was no formal request made for bringing in the Marcos. In fact, sources said, the concerned police official had initially told the Naval authorities, “We may need your help.” Only the state chief secretary has the formal authority to call in the Marcos.

What transpired between the police and the state administration is not known but by the time a formal request was put in, it was close to 2 am, according to these sources.

To make matters worse, when the Marcos reached the Taj there was no one to brief them. “They entered the Taj with absolutely no co-ordinates, no layout plan of the building, no briefing from any high ranking police official. The Taj is definitely not a place that jawans or officers visit on a daily basis. The could not afford to delay either since they could not afford to lose any more time in bringing the situation under control,” said sources on conditions of anonymity.

While the state had made the decision to call in the Army on late Wednesday evening, after the magnitude of the situation became clearer, implementation was slow. The National Security Guard (NSG) commandos had to be flown in from Delhi and were deployed on Thursday morning around 7 AM on Thursday morning. There have also been questions over what seems to be delays in the deployment of the NSG. But in case of NSG, they had to be flown in from Delhi.

In contrast the Marcos are located close to Mumbai, at Karanja, near Alibaug, and could have been deployed earlier, sources said.

No one knows how many more lives could have been saved if the Marcos had been called in immediately. On Saturday evening, the official toll released by the home ministry stood at 183-141 Indian civilians, 22 foreigners and 20 security personnel. The number though is expected to rise above 200 as the search is still on for some missing guests.

It’s also now surfaced that the terrorists were planning to kill thousands in Mumbai.

The terrorists had stockpiled enough ammunition for the task, including eight kilos of extremely potent RDX. At some point towards the end of the NSG operation, the terrorists lost their nerve and began arguing amongst themselves.

According to security sources, one of them was willing to surrender, while the other two were bent on a fight to the death. One of the terrorists even tried to negotiate his way to surrender. “But that was quite a risk. From earlier experiences we knew it could have been a trap,” said a security officer.

All the four terrorists in the Taj were eventually killed by the NSG in Operation Cyclone which ended around 8am on Saturday morning. The sources said all the four terrorists had posted themselves at important check points on different floors. They were keeping in touch through intercom and cell phones belonging to the hostages.

Two terrorists were gunned down by the NSG commandos on Friday while one was killed on Saturday morning around 3 am. The last of the terrorists was finally felled around 8am.

The bodies of the terrorists have been sent to the JJ Hospital for autopsy.