Nariman House - Attack

Attack

The Chabad house was seized and attacked during the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. At around 2145 hours (9:45 pm) local time on Wednesday, 26 November, four terrorists took advantage of the fact that local security forces were operating in several locations throughout the city. Newscasters were calling it the "final assault", and the building is near the Leopold Cafe, another building attacked during the strike. However according to a new report Nariman House was actually the main target on 26 November and the rest of the targets were only to amplify the effect.

Initially it was reported that six Israeli Jews were being held hostage. Later Chabad spokesman in Israel Moni Ender said that there were at least eight Israelis inside the house, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka Holtzberg. The rabbi's two-year-old son Moshe was rescued by his nanny, Sandra Samuel, 44, who had worked for the centre for the previous five years.

The terrorists "would be told by their handlers in Pakistan that the lives of Jews were worth 50 times those of non-Jews." They were tortured very badly.

It was reported that gunmen fired indiscriminately towards the crowd. Late on Thursday evening, State officials in India told the Associated Press that eight hostages had been released from the Chabad House. Later Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that the eight people seen near Chabad House were not Jewish hostages but local Indians from a home in the same compound. Early Friday morning a large blast was heard at the centre as fighting continued, even though other sources were reporting that the building was under the control of the Indian security forces.

During the siege US Chabad official Rabbi Levi Shemtov talked with one of the terrorists on Holtzberg's cell phone. The FBI and other negotiation experts helped guide him through the process, which included around five phone calls. Having to find an Urdu speaker to speak with him, they were unable to directly speak to any of the hostages, but Shemtov did say he heard the voice of one woman screaming in English, "please help immediately."

Shortly before dawn on Friday, Indian security forces began an attack on the Chabad House that lasted until after sundown. The operation began when 22 NSG Commandos rappelled out from an Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter on the roof of the building. NSG Commandos were in position in the adjacent buildings to provide cover fire to the assault team if needed. Commandos entered the building from the top and two loud blasts were heard followed by heavy gunfire. The whole operation was watched live on TV as news footage showed troops abseiling from a helicopter into the building, and soldiers on the ground closing in. Initially it was reported that five hostages were killed at the Chabad House, then six on Friday, eight by Saturday morning and the final number of six on Sunday, when two missing Israelis made contact with the Israeli Foreign Ministry. When the raid ended at sundown everyone inside the building was dead, including the rabbi and his wife. An Indian commando Havaldar Gajendra Singh Bisht was killed during the operation. According to ZAKA members, at least one hostage (Rabbi Holtzberg) might have been killed in the crossfire on Friday when the commandos moved in; this was rejected by government authorities as stories and irresponsible comments. Some of the victims had been bound. Some of the others were killed by the terrorists on Wednesday, and the remainder on Thursday. The rabbi's wife and Orpaz had been killed many hours before Nariman House was retaken. It is also believed that the Rabbi and his pregnant wife were sexually assaulted and their genitals were mutilated before they were killed.

A handout provided by Indian police identified the two terrorists killed at Nariman House as a certain "Nasir" alias Abu Umar, and "Babar Imaran".