We Are thankful for Hemant Karkare
Dulce et decorum pro mundi mori:
FT.com: The night Mumbai became scene from a nightmare: Police began engaging the terrorists in the Taj and Oberoi hotels. One of the first casualties was Hemant Karkare, Mumbai’s anti-terrorist squad chief and one of its top policemen, who was gunned down leading a team into the Taj.
On Thursday morning, with up to 55 guests being held hostage at the Taj Mahal and an estimated 40 at the Oberoi, the government sent in the elite Black Cat military anti-terrorist squad to flush them out of both hotels. Outside the Taj, the National Security Group of paramilitary police could be seen scaling the Gateway of India monument to get a better shot at the militants. The commandos systematically swept through the buildings, fighting room to room and freeing occupants such as Nori, the sushi chef at the Taj’s Wasabi Restaurant, who had been hiding in his room. “The commandos checked my passport, business card then said go,” he said.
A few streets away the military were figuring out how to dislodge a group of terrorists who had fled into a nearby slum, Colaba Market, where they had invaded a building and taken a Jewish family prisoner. As the sun set over Mumbai on Thursday night, gunfire and explosions were still rocking the Oberoi and the Taj. Meanwhile, police were tightening a cordon round Chabad House, where the Jewish family, consisting of the owner of the building, his wife and three others, were being held...
