VZCZCXRO2171
OO RUEHAST RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHBI #0553/01 3341147
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O P 291147Z NOV 08
FM AMCONSUL MUMBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6762
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 8000
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 1924
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 0816
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0123
RHHJJPI/PACOM IDHS HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MUMBAI 000553 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DS/ER/CC 
DS FRONT OFFICE 
DS/IP/SCA 
DS/DSS/ITA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PTER PGOV PREL IN
SUBJECT: SITREP #8: CLEAN-UP CONTINUES AT TAJ; CITY BEGINS TO RETURN 
TO NORMAL 
 
MUMBAI 00000553  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Since the ending of tactical operations at the Taj 
Palace Hotel by National Security Guard (NSG) forces, access to 
the Taj Hotel has been slow.  Police told RSO teams at the hotel 
that there is still unexploded ordinance in the hotel.  There 
were several explosions in the hotel as late as 1:30 pm.  One 
senior police officer told RSO that bodies are present on every 
floor in the Heritage wing and, when pressed, estimated there 
were 40-50 more bodies.  According to the hotel's COO, the 
police have only fully cleared the main lobby, and RSO and 
Legatt teams do not expect to receive access until at least 
nighttime.  Around 10:30 local time, the Taj Management and 
Group Chairman Ratan Tata was allowed access to the hotel.  A 
hotel source told Congenoffs that the sixth floor of the 
Heritage wing has been gutted by fires. 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The Consul General traveled to the Taj Palace and 
Oberoi hotels around 2 pm to pay his condolences to hotel 
managers and staffs.  At the Taj, the CG expressed his 
condolences to Taj General Manager K.S. Kang, who lost his wife 
and two children in the attacks (but was still working).  The 
Taj management told a Consular officer that they have an arrival 
manifest from November 25, which they were using to identify 
possible guests.  (Most of the Taj's occupancy records were 
destroyed in the fighting or is unavailable.)  At the Oberoi, 
the General Manager told the CG that there were 32 persons were 
killed:  ten staff - one Thai national and nine Indians - and 22 
guests.  Of the guests, there were three Amcits, one 
Singaporean, and one Japanese.  Nine people were injured, of 
which two are Americans.  Separately, the spouses of the two 
injured Amcits met with Congenoffs and praised the response of 
the Indian authorities and Consulate during the crisis.  The 
Amcits plan to take up offers to speak to major U.S. media 
outlets, possibly in the coming days. 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to S. Jadhav of Mumbai's disaster management 
cell, the death toll has risen to 195, with the number of 
injured revised downward to 295. (An estimated 70 to 80 patients 
able to pay for medical treatment have shifted to private 
hospitals, so some injured may have been double counted.) 
Overall, however, much of the city has returned to normal; 
respite from Mumbai's infamous traffic jams is over, residents 
are celebrating weddings, and shops and markets are open. 
However, Delta and KLM/Northwest Airlines have cancelled all 
outbound flights from Mumbai for the next few days. 
 
 
Who Are the Terrorists? 
----------------------- 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) Government of Maharashtra officials have acknowledged 
that police captured one attacker on the night of Wednesday, 
November 26, who is believed to be a Pakistani citizen. 
According to unconfirmed reports in the media, who cite 
confidential police sources, this attacker is Azam Amir Kasav, 
21, from Faridkot in Pakistani Punjab.  According to the report, 
Kasav was one of the two men who attacked CST station, Cama 
hospital, killing at least 47 people; these two later stole a 
car, shot Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)chief Hemant Karkare and 
others, and were intercepted by Mumbai police while they were 
fleeing in Karkare's vehicle.  The report said that Kasav 
pretended to be dead, until the police discovered he was alive, 
but injured. 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Kasav allegedly told the police that were ten 
assailants in total, who were asked to "kill till their last 
breath."  Each assailant was given two automatic weapons, eight 
grenades, ammunition and dry fruits.  Reportedly, Kasav told 
police that the group started from Karachi, Pakistan in a ship 
and then hijacked Indian coastguard and fishing boats by killing 
those on board, finally reaching Mumbai via speedboats and 
 
MUMBAI 00000553  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
rubber dinghies.  After landing in Mumbai, they split into teams 
of two and four to attack the four targets - CST station, two 
the hotels, and Nariman House.  News stories indicate that the 
picture of one of the terrorists running and carrying a gun is 
Kasav.  Other unconfirmed electronic media reports say that the 
Taj hotel management told the police that some attackers might 
have worked as interns in the hotel; however, the Taj management 
has denied this.  Others in the media have speculated that some 
of the terrorists had already checked into the hotels with 
additional weapons to await the arrival of the other attackers. 
 
 
Coverage Muddied by Lack of Information 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) The coverage of these terrorist attacks by the Indian 
media was like any other media event; breathless, aggressive, 
speculative, and quick to report rumor.  The inaccuracy was 
exacerbated by the lack of reliable official media communication 
by the state or federal government, or the police, NSG forces, 
or Army.  Media persons relied on comments from police on the 
scene or personal contacts in the security forces or government, 
many of whom did not have the complete picture of ongoing 
operations.  In addition, public comments from senior security 
and government officials often contradicted one another, 
especially regarding the status of operations at the Taj Hotel. 
Journalists besieged Congenoffs at the incident sites, 
complaining that no Indian officials were providing any 
information; while the media was kept behind a basic perimeter 
at the sites, some could easily interact with consular officials 
at assistance areas.  With dozens of young television news 
networks competing for viewers, there is tremendous pressure to 
scoop the other journalists and report things quickly, whether 
accurate or not. 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Most violent events in India begin and end quickly, and 
rarely involve security forces higher than local police.  With 
these terrorist attacks, however, central paramilitary forces 
were called in to dislodge motivated terrorists holed up in 
hotels with dozens of stairwells, exits, and rooms; lasting 
nearly 60 hours, this was no easy operation.  The length of the 
operation, however, and the lack of media points of contact - 
not to mention liaison people for foreign missions - gave ample 
opportunity for misinformation and panic to spread.  These 
attacks clearly expose the Indian government agencies' lack of 
coordination in sharing information with each other, as well as 
with media and diplomatic missions. 
 
 
Mumbaikars Digest the Tragedy 
----------------------------- 
 
 
¶8. (U) Today, vernacular and English language papers emphasized 
the population's sense of unease after the attacks, in the city 
of Mumbai, as well as the country as a whole.  "The usual talk 
of resilience and bouncing back somehow rings hollow this time," 
wrote Kumar Ketkar, editor of the Marathi language newspaper 
Loksatta.  Siddharth Bhatia, editor of the newspaper DNA, said 
"First, not since the 1993 communal riots and bombings has South 
Mumbai been affected by this type of violence.  The problems 
that have taken place since have affected North and Central 
Mumbai, but posh South Mumbai has been untouched.  Second, the 
buildings attacked - Leopold Cafi, the Taj Mahal Palace and 
Oberoi hotels, and CST - are iconic for Mumbaikers."  Indeed, 
the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel is one of India's most iconic, modern 
structures, a hotel built by Indians, for Indians, over a 
century ago.  (When a British hotel refused him entry, the 
founder of the Tata Sons, Jamsedji Tata, built the Taj Palace 
Hotel after vowing to build the grandest hotel in India.)  As a 
result, opinion writers believe that Mumbai's elite would now 
feel a connection to these terrorist attacks. 
 
MUMBAI 00000553  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) Newspapers and columnists continue to convey general 
anger against Pakistan for the attacks, but so far, writers have 
not advocated any clear steps against its neighbor.  In the town 
of Nanded in central Maharashtra, BJP activists burnt effigies 
of "Pakistan," and in Latur (Chief Minister Deshmukh's home 
district), Congress activists burnt effigies of "terrorism." 
Congenoffs at the Taj site report that about 40-50 activists 
from two political parties, the Samajwadi Party and the 
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), have staged rallies to 
celebrate the successful operations of Indian security forces. 
NCP activists also chanted "Down with Pakistan."  Mumbaikers 
circulated a SMS mocking Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader 
Raj Thackeray for being unable to help the city when tragedy 
struck; the message pointed out that it was the NSG forces, 
composed of outsiders from North and South India, who helped the 
city in its hour of need. 
FOLMSBEE