Mumbai, 26 November
Wreaths were paid on Friday to the martyrs who laid down their lives fighting the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and State Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil paid tributes at the memorial at the Police Headquarters in South Mumbai.
An official said the martyr’s memorial has been shifted from the original site of the Police Gymkhana at Marine Drive to the police headquarters in Crawford Market, as work on the coastal road project is underway.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, recovering at a hospital in Mumbai after spinal surgery, also remembered the martyrs of 26/11.
A limited number of people participated in the 13th anniversary of the deadly terror attack in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
The family members of some of the martyr policemen also paid tribute at the memorial.
During the ceremony, the dignitaries met the family members of some of the martyrs.
On 26 November 2008, 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists from Pakistan arrived by sea and during a 60-hour siege in Mumbai, 166 people, including 18 security personnel, were killed and several others were injured.
Those killed in the attack included the then Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, Army Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Mumbai Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte, Senior Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar and Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Tukaram Omble.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Oberoi Trident, Taj Mahal Hotel, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital and Nariman House Jewish Community Centre, now renamed as Nariman Light House, were some of the places targeted by terrorists.
Later, nine terrorists were killed by security forces including the country’s elite commando force NSG. Ajmal Kasab was the only terrorist who was caught alive. He was hanged four years later on 21 November 2012. PTI