Donate Now Jason Motlagh, Special to the Pulitzer Center
Virginia Quarterly Review
Over the past two years the Pulitzer Center has supported Jason Motlagh's reporting from south Asia, working in collaboration with print and broadcast outlets to produce extraordinary projects on India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Over the next four days, in an exclusive online report for Virginia Quarterly Review, Jason recounts in searing, unforgettable detail, in words and photographs, the terrorist attacks a year ago this week on the heart of Mumbai. We are honored to share this work with the readers of Untold Stories.
SIXTY HOURS OF TERROR, PART 4
Investigators counted and numbered the bullet holes outside Nariman House (Jason Motlagh).
V. BY THE GRACE OF ALLAH
November 28. 7:23 A.M. Nariman House.
To the thump of rotor blades from a MI-17 helicopter, a line of NSG commandos readied to slither down a hanging rope to the roof of Nariman House. Alert to their movement, the gunmen tried to get a shot off from the windows but were foiled by snipers' cover fire, which blasted what glass remained from the upper floor windows. Intercepts of their phone calls made in the middle of the night indicated that all of the hostages had been executed. The gunmen had abandoned negotiation, so the only move left was a final assault on the building. Again, the approach was top-down: assault from the roof and force the gunmen toward the exits where additional commandos were waiting.
Indian television crews were carrying everything live, and Imran's handlers in Pakistan were watching, reporting what they could see.
Handler: Fifteen men have climbed down on your rooftop right now.
Imran: They are standing in front of the windows as well.
Handler: What are you saying? Can you see anything there?
Imran: They are firing in the front.
For several heated minutes, the gunman and the handler debated a strategy to protect their position. Another man abruptly took the phone.
Handler 2: You do this. Go towards the roof, throw a grenade at them; and fire at them before they can fire at you. Do this now, in the name of Allah.
For more of Jason Motlagh's report, see his article in Virginia Quarterly Review.
For related reporting, see Simon Marks' "India's Global Ambitions," a series of reports for The NewsHour.