'Terrorists were trained, knew hotel layout'

Indian marine commandos who battled terrorists at the Taj hotel today said that the gunmen were very well trained and were perfectly aware of the iconic hotel's layout. Full Coverage

Indian marine commandos who battled terrorists at the Taj hotel in Mumbai said on Friday that the gunmen were very well trained and were perfectly aware of the iconic hotel's layout.

HT Image

In the first ever press conference by the Indian Navy commandos, who have consciously kept a low profile for years, a masked officer said that he and his colleagues saw many people dead at the Taj hotel near the Gateway of India monument.

The terrorists, the officer said speaking haltingly in English, were firing indiscriminately from AK series automatic rifles and hurling grenades at the commandos inside the Taj hotel.

“Definitely they were trained. Not everybody can fire AK series weapons. Using such weapons and explosives, it is obvious they were trained somewhere,” said the officer who was dressed in black commando suits.

“These people were very, very familiar with the hotel layout. It appeared that they had carried out a survey (of the hotel) before. And they were a very well determined lot. Remorseless,” the officer added.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday that the terrorists, who struck at several places in Mumbai Wednesday night, were based abroad. Indian officials have more specifically said the gunmen came from Karachi in Pakistan.