Two Terrorists May Have Escaped

MUMBAI, India — More than a fortnight after the Mumbai attacks, eyewitness accounts of what transpired at Nariman House strongly suggest that two terrorists are unaccounted for.

A key witness who declined to be identified told this newspaper that at 9.30 pm the night the Nariman House standoff began, four men with subcontinental features accompanied two Israelis to the Chabad House in the Colaba area. Their entry coincided with the watchman on duty being out for dinner. (The watchman has since been missing).

The witness, who has a shop in the same lane where buildings are cheek by jowl, was mystified as he had never seen locals enter the building before except for odd maintenance duties. “Even when the officials from the consulate went in, police waited outside. So it was surprising to see these strangers go in,” he said. Just as the two Israelis and the four subcontinental looking men were about to enter the lift at the entrance of the building, the witness saw two more people with features similar to the four walk quickly towards the building. They left two huge rucksacks near the lift where the others were standing. Having done so, they rushed away. The ones standing near the lift picked up the rucksacks and got into the lift.

The eyewitness says the rucksacks were similar to those that Ajmal Amir Kasab, the Pakistani, was carrying during the CST massacre. Soon afterwards, the eyewitness claims, a heated argument could be heard from inside, followed by what sounded like a rifle shot. This was at 9.45 pm. Two more gunshots followed.

A commotion ensued and the witness saw people fleeing. Then, what sounded like machine gun fire began. The sounds attracted a crowd to Nariman House.

Rabbi’s wife Rivka appeared at the first floor window. “Please don’t come near. Flee! Call the police,” she cried out in desperation. That was the last time Rivka was seen alive.

“Local residents dismissed the incident as a drunken brawl between the Israelis. Then the terrorists trained guns on the crowd that started to gather outside the building. Panic stricken, people began to flee in all directions,” says former corporator Puran Doshi, who accompanied the NSG into Nariman House.

“They threw grenades, which injured another four to five people. This infuriated the crowd, which began pelting stones at the building,” said Doshi. The crowd nabbed two Israelis who tried to flee the area. “We initially thought it was the Israelis who were responsible,” Doshi explained.

Then a bomb went off at the nearby petrol pump, which was too far for a terrorist to have thrown a grenade. This blew up a small shanty shop. Doshi says that the blast could have been triggered by the accomplices of the terrorists as a diversionary tactic.

Significantly, of the eight bodies recovered from Nariman House, six were those of Israelis, and two were of the terrorists. What happened to the other two who went into the building with the additional rucksacks?

Did they escape in the melee?