Some articles on Marcos on 26/11
The MARCOS heard the staccato bursts of fire echoing down the corridors. ‘They’re coming from the direction of the kitchen area,’ Kudiyadi exclaimed. The kitchen complex formed the second link between the heritage wing and the new Taj Tower. The team rushed towards it, guns at the ready. Kudiyadi showed them the way. The group cautiously approached the kitchen area. There was a sound that grew louder as they came closer. It was the trilling of dozens of cell phones: frantic, unanswered calls to the fifteen victims who lay contorted on the floor. Most of those victims were uniformed Taj staff, shot while fleeing, looking for cover. The green stone tiles were splattered with blood. At least seven persons were alive and seriously injured, writhing in pain on the floor. An injured lady was trapped beneath the corpse of a dead person. She looked at a commando and wailed weakly, ‘Take her off me.’
The commandos tensed as they approached one of the kitchen doors. Three gunmen were walking past. They saw the MARCOS. One of them whirled around and fired a burst from his hip and threw a grenade. The commandos took cover. The grenade did not explode. The terrorists fled through the numerous exits from the kitchen. ‘Evacuate the injured out of here,’ the team leader whispered to Kudiyadi.
The firefight told the commandos that they were up against heavily armed terrorists. But they also came upon another realization. The hotel was full of civilians. The MARCOS were all specialists: in communications, sharp shooting and handling explosives. But now, in the labyrinthine maze of the dimly lit hotel, they needed only one speciality: nerves of steel. They could not afford to be trigger-happy. As the commandos began shifting the wounded out of the corridor. Their priority had swiftly changed from neutralizing the terrorists to evacuating civilians.
More commandos were needed. The task was simply too large for eight men, however well trained. They radioed their chief of operations in the hotel lobby for reinforcements as they began helping the wounded out of the corridors.
By around 5 a.m., sixteen more MARCOS had arrived at the Taj. This enhanced force now split into three teams. Two teams were deployed to evacuate injured civilians, the third searched for the terrorists. This third team reached the dining room of the Chambers, which had earlier served as the sanctuary for the civilians. The shiny cream-coloured granite corridor was brightly lit, but the room inside was dark. As the team entered the hall, there was deathly silence. Then they heard a soft but distinctive metallic rasp. It was the safety lever of an AK-47 being taken off. Gun flashes lit the dark hall. The terrorists inside the room fired at the commandos as they entered. One commando was hit as he ran for cover, a bullet entered his shoulder and another lodged itself in a spare AK-47 magazine tucked on his bulletproof vest. The MARCOS withdrew from the hall and evacuated their comrades.
The MARCOS’ action was brief, but critical. They had saved nearly 200 hotel guests from certain slaughter. They had pushed the terrorists back into the Palace wing away from the Taj Tower, which they could have used for another siege. And if this was any consolation, the attackers had a depleted arsenal. It was a small victory in the dark hours of 27/11.
https://medium.com/@HarperCollinsIN/26-11-marcos-to-the-rescue-a-tale-of-sheer-courage-206b887d0f7c
. A gunfight broke out between the four terrorists and the commandos. The terrorists "broke contact", retreating into "The Chambers Library" that faced the Gateway of India. The commandos pursued them into the library where a second gunfight broke out and two commandos were injured. The commandos retrieved their injured and covered what they thought was the only entrance into the library.
The commandos now focused on rescuing the hapless guests trapped in the various function rooms. The MARCOS, usually deployed for the safety of oil installations or to counter pirates on the high seas, had reached the Taj by a series of coincidences. Their existence was revealed to Maharashtra chief secretary Johny Joseph by a naval officer friend. It allowed Joseph to place an urgent and specific request to the Navy: a request that was swiftly acceded to and was the game-changer that night. One hundred and sixty five persons died in the 26/11 attacks. But for the timely MARCOS intervention, the toll, as we know it, could have been far, far higher. It was the single most heroic act on the night of the 26/11 attacks
http://www.dailyo.in/politics/mumba...sm-lashkar-e-taiba-pakistan/story/1/7619.html
