'Deadly fighters, disciplined and motivated'

A NATIONAL security guard (NSG) commando who led one of the three five-man teams against three terrorists besieging Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel last week held grudging admiration for his adversaries after the deadly battle that lasted more than 60 hours.

"They were deadly fighters, disciplined and motivated, the best I have so far encountered," the officer said in the Taj hotel lobby at the weekend.

He was surrounded by his battle-fatigued team of commandos who were eating their first meal in more than two days.

Declining to be identified for security reasons, the officer gave the gunmen "full marks" for their boldness, superior military tactics and the ability to think nimbly on their feet in desperate circumstances.

Other gunmen of the 10-man strike team also laid siege to the nearby Oberoi-Trident hotel and the city's Jewish centre following random shootings in the city on Wednesday evening. A total of 174 people died in the assaults and some 300 were injured.

"They were obviously trained by professionals in urban guerrilla fighting," the commando said.

All three fighters adapted continually to the changing situation in the dark corridors surrounded by scores of dead bodies, in a firefight in which the advantage changed continually.

The cat-and-mouse game between hunter and hunted alternated between well-furnished rooms and suites, long pillared corridors, conference rooms and the high-ceilinged lavish dining halls spread over several floors of the Taj hotel.

"They used their environment brilliantly, leading us [the NSG] on a dangerous chase through various tiers of the hotel which they obviously knew well," he said.

"Their fire discipline was excellent and they used their ammunition judiciously, mostly to draw us out," said the commando who survived several close encounters with the militants.

However, he outmanoeuvred one of the terrorists and shot him dead near the ground-floor lobby.

One of the ploys used by the gunmen was to lure the commandos towards them by making their hostages shout for help in the dark, then fire on them when they approached.

"It was amply clear they came to kill a large number of people and to eventually perish in their horrific endeavour," the commando said. Negotiating with the Indian authorities or escaping was not an option for them.

According to the officer his unit went in "blind" to neutralise the gunmen at the hotel, totally unfamiliar with the hotel layout and having to negotiate heaps of bodies lying around.

His men had little or no expectation of back-up from local police contingents who were unwilling to venture beyond the secure periphery of the lobby.

"I still have the taste of dead bodies in my mouth," the commando said.

Medical officials said a postmortem examination of the terrorists revealed that they had continued fighting despite being hit several times and being badly burnt. The two fingers of one of the gunmen were severed, possibly in a blast, but he continued fighting, hospital sources said.