Ten years ago on this day, India's financial capital Mumbai faced the worst terror attack after 10 heavily armed terrorists sailed into the city.
Twenty-Six Eleven, as these attacks are often referred to as, witnessed 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists coming to Mumbai via sea route from Pakistan and carrying out a series of coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across the city.
The terrorists targeted 4 major landmarks of Mumbai:
- First Attack Site: At the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station.
- Second Attack Site: At Nariman House business and residential complex.
- Third Attack Site: At the Leopold Cafe followed by Taj Mahal Hotel and Tower.
- Fourth Attack Site: At Oberoi-Trident hotel
The ghastly attacks lasted for three days of mayhem and bloodbath, killing 166 people and injuring over 300.
In these gruesome attacks, 9 terrorists were killed and the lone survivor, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was caught and was sentenced to death at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune in 2012.
The Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) was believed to have plotted the 26/11 attacks. Its mastermind, Hafiz Saeed, has however been roaming freely in Pakistan.
Pakistan has so far not completed trial in the 26/11 case.
Ties between India and Pakistan have remained tense since the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and nosedived after the Uri terror attack by Pakistan-based terrorists in September 2016, that claimed lives of 19 Indian soldiers.
As India remembers the victims of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks on its tenth anniversary today, various events will be organised across the nation, especially in Mumbai, to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the horrific attacks.
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