The aftermath

Mohammed Ajmal Mohammed Amir Kasab (21), the only terrorist to be arrested by the police while trying to flee with another terrorist in a hijacked car on Wednesday night, has begun spilling the beans to his interrogators. Ajmal has said that all 10 terrorists had come from Karachi together with a brief to take hostages in order to escape after causing maximum casualties.
A total of eight terrorists were gunned down by the NSG — two at the Trident Oberoi Hotel, four at the Taj Mahal Hotel and two at Nariman House — and one by local police at Girgaum Chowpatty by the time the operations ended.
“Ajmal, a Class IV pass has told us that he is from Faridkot village in Ukada district in the Punjab province of Pakistan and that all of them had set off together from Karachi and that they came in an inflatable dingy from Porbander,” said Rakesh Maria, joint commissioner of police, crime.
According to Mr Maria, all of them were between ages of 19 and 28 years and bogus identity cards of Indian colleges were found on their person. He, however refused to divulge the names of the colleges.
In a shocking revelation, deputy chief minister, R.R. Patil had told media persons that the terrorists had enough ammunition to kill 5,000 persons. “We have recovered 10 AK-56 rifles, 10 9mm pistols, several hand grenades and bullets. Also, two bags with eight kg of explosives were defused by our men and we have sent the explosives for chemical analysis to identify the explosives. These would have been enough to kill 5,000 people,” said Mr Maria.
Ajmal told the police that all of them were trained together and were shown images of the Taj and the Trident Oberoi on Google Earth by their trainers. “Ajmal has told us that he has never come to India before and that the terrorists had not anticipated that the police would instantly fling into action and chase them,” added Mr Maria.
The police has also recovered one mobile phone from Ismail Khan (who was killed in the encounter at Girgaum Chowpatty, from where Ajmal was arrested). “We have recovered a GSM mobile phone, but right now we would not like to disclose from where it was procured,” said Mr Maria, adding, “We are also trying to find out from where they procured the seven Malaysian credit cards that were recovered from the Taj.”
The police is now checking whether there is any underworld link to the attack and whether the terrorists received any local assistance in their attacks. Meanwhile, the IP address from which the terror email claiming responsibility by an outfit called “Deccan Mujahideen” was sent to a news channel after the attack, has been traced. The police, however refused to divulge its location.