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It took just 10 young men armed with rifles
and grenades to terrorize this city of 18 million and turn its
postcard-perfect icons into battlefields until security forces
ended one of the deadliest attacks in India's history early
Saturday.


      After the final siege at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel, adoring
crowds surrounded six buses carrying weary, unshaven commandos
dressed in black fatigues, shaking their hands and giving them
flowers. One of the commandos said he had been awake for nearly 60
hours since the assault began Wednesday. Another sat sipping a
bottle of water and holding a pink rose.


      "What happened is disgusting," said Suresh Thakkar, 59, who
reopened his clothing store behind the hotel Saturday for the first
time since the attacks. "It will be harder to recover, but we will
recover. Bombay people have a lot of spirit and courage."


      The bloody rampage carried out by suspected Muslim militants at
10 sites across Mumbai, the nation's financial capital formerly
known as Bombay, killed at least 195 people and wounded 295. Among
the dead were 18 foreigners, including six Americans.


      Orange flames and dark smoke engulfed the Taj Mahal after dawn
Saturday as Indian forces killed the last three militants with
grenades and gunfire. Hours after the fire fight, parts of the
landmark hotel were in shambles, its corner facade charred black
and a red carpet leading to double doors littered with broken
glass.


      "Suddenly no one feels safe or secure," said Joe Sequeira, the
manager of a popular restaurant near the Oberoi hotel, another site
targeted in the attacks. "It will take time. People are scared but
they will realize it's no use being scared and sitting at home."

      While soldiers scoured the massive 565-room Taj Mahal for any
remaining captives and defused booby traps, a city known for its
resilience in the face of tragedy began mourning and cremating its
dead. At least 20 killed in the fighting were members of security
forces.

      A previously unknown Muslim group called Deccan Mujahideen - a
name suggesting origins inside India - has claimed responsibility.
But Indian officials said the sole surviving gunman, now in
custody, was from Pakistan and voiced suspicions of their volatile
neighbor. Nine other attackers were killed, they said.

      Each new detail about the attackers raised more questions. Who
trained the militants, who were so well prepared they carried bags
of almonds to keep their energy up? What role, if any, did
archrival Pakistan play in the attack? And how did so few
assailants, who looked like college students, wreak so much damage?

      Pakistan denied it was involved and demanded evidence for Indian
charges. Islamabad has pledged to share intelligence with its rival
neighbor but went back on its initial promise to send its spy chief
to aid the probe, saying it would send a lower ranking official
instead.

      As officials pointed the finger at neighboring Pakistan, some
Indians looked inward and expressed anger at their own government.

      "People are worried, but the key difference is anger," said
Rajesh Jain, chief executive officer at a brokerage firm, Pranav
Securities. "People are worked up about the ineffectiveness of the
administration. Does the government have the will, the ability to
tackle the dangers we face?"

      On Saturday, officials said they believed that just 10 gunmen
had taken part in the attacks. The sole survivor, identified a
Pakistani national, Mohammad Ajmal Qasam, was being interrogated,
officials said.

      The gunmen were as brazen as they were well trained, using
sophisticated weapons, GPS technology and mobile and satellite
phones to communicate, authorities said.

      "They were constantly in touch with a foreign country," said
R.R. Patil, deputy to the chief of Maharashtra state's chief,
without giving further details.

      "Whenever they were under a little bit of pressure they would
hurl a grenade. They freely used grenades," said Dutt.

      Suspicions in Indian media quickly settled on the militant group
Lashkar-e-Taiba, long seen as a creation of the Pakistani
intelligence service to help wage its clandestine war against India
in disputed Kashmir.

      A U.S. counterterrorism official said some "signatures of the
attack" were consistent with Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed, another
group that has operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked
to al-Qaida.

      U.S. officials were worried about a possible surge in violence
between Pakistan and India - the nuclear armed rivals have fought
three wars against each other, two over Kashmir - and were sending
FBI agents to India to help investigate.

      President George W. Bush pledged full U.S. support for the
investigation, saying the killers "will not have the final word."

      "As the people of the world's largest democracy recover from
these attacks, they can count on the people of world's oldest
democracy to stand by their side," Bush added in a brief address
from the White House.

      Indian security officers believe many of the gunmen may have
reached the city using a black and yellow rubber dinghy found near
the attack sites.

      The Indian navy said it was investigating whether a trawler
found drifting off the coast of Mumbai, with a bound corpse on
board, was used in the attack.

      The trawler, named Kuber, had been found Thursday and was
brought to Mumbai, a peninsula surrounded by the Arabian Sea, said
Navy spokesman Capt. Manohar Nambiar. Authorities suspect the boat
had sailed from a port in the neighboring state of Gujarat.

      The fighting narrowed to the Taj Mahal hotel on Friday night,
hours after elite commandos stormed a Jewish center and found at
least eight hostages dead Friday.

      The bodies of New York Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his
wife, Rivkah, were found at the Jewish center. Their son, Moshe,
who turned 2 on Saturday, was scooped up by an employee Thursday as
she fled the building. At least two Israelis and another American
were also killed in the house, said Rabbi Zalman Schmotkin, a
spokesman for the Chabad Lubavitch movement, which ran the center.

      In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor
said eight bodies had been found in the center and officials were
investigating whether there is a ninth victim.

      Among the foreigners killed in the attacks were six Americans,
according to the U.S. Embassy. The dead also included Germans,
Canadians, Israelis and nationals from Britain, Italy, Japan,
China, Thailand, Australia and Singapore.

      By Saturday night the death toll was at 195, the country's
deadliest attack since 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai killed 257
people. But officials said the toll from the three days of carnage
was likely to rise as more bodies were brought out of the hotels.

      In the southern city of Bangalore, black clad commandos formed
an honor guard for the flag-draped coffin of Maj. Sandeep
Unnikrishnan, who was killed in the fighting at the Taj Mahal
hotel.

      "He gave up his own life to save the others," said J.K. Dutt,
director general of India's elite commando unit.

Gallery

Slideshow: Attacks in Mumbai (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)

Indian forces kill last gunmen in Mumbai

India blames "elements" in Pakistan for attacks

This seaside city of 18 million known for
its resilience has bounced back from wrenching tragedy before, but
after the most brazen terror attack in India's history, the people
of Mumbai are worried.

India ends Mumbai rampage after 60 hours, 174 dead

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