Prime Minister Narendra Modi today remembered the victims of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in his monthly radio address, ‘Mann Ki Baat’, and termed it as India’s “most heinous” terror attack.
“We can never forget November 26. It was on this day that the most heinous terrorist attack took place in the country. Terrorists had shaken Mumbai and the entire country. But, it is India’s capability that we recovered from that attack and now we are also crushing terrorism with full courage,” PM Modi said.
On November 26, 2008, ten heavily armed Pakistani terrorists carried out a series of coordinated attacks in Mumbai. The attacks targeted civilians and security personnel alike, leaving a trail of devastation and loss in their wake.
The terrorists, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades, struck at various locations across the city, including the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, the Oberoi Trident Hotel, and the Nariman House Jewish community centre.
The terrorists, who had infiltrated the city via the Arabian Sea, killed 166 people, including 18 security personnel, and injured hundreds more. They also caused widespread property damage with the total loss estimated to be worth crores.
The then Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, Army Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Mumbai’s additional police commissioner Ashok Kamte and senior police inspector Vijay Salaskar were among those killed in the attacks.
During the attacks, nine of the ten terrorists were neutralised by security forces. One surviving terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, was arrested and subsequently executed four years later on November 21, 2012.
President Droupadi Murmu also paid homage to the Mumbai attacks victims, and urged the people of the country to renew the pledge to fight terrorism.
A grateful nation remembers with pain all the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. We stand with their families and loved ones in honouring the memory of the brave souls. I pay homage to the valiant security personnel who laid down their lives for the motherland. Recalling…
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) November 26, 2023
“A grateful nation remembers with pain all the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. We stand with their families and loved ones in honouring the memory of the brave souls. I pay homage to the valiant security personnel who laid down their lives for the motherland. Recalling their supreme sacrifice, let us renew our pledge to battle terrorism in all forms everywhere,” President Murmu posted on X.
