Mumbai: As dawn broke in India's commercial capital Friday, silence prevailed at two luxury hotels as commandos moved in to flush out gunmen who had unleashed the most audacious terror attack the country has witnessed, with at least 125 people already dead and 327 injured.
Three explosions were, however, heard at the Nariman House, the third building the attackers had stormed Wednesday night and from where the security forces shepherded out seven more hostages early Friday.
Two explosions followed in quick succession around 2.30 a.m. and a third was heard just before 5 a.m., even as snipers were taking position around the building.
Eyewitnesses at the site said it was surprising that there was no retaliatory fire from the terrorists as the hostages were being brought out but the explosions occurred much later.
The Bombay Stock Exchange was likely to reopen Friday after being closed Thursday as the authorities struggled to cope with India's longest hostage drama that has been likened to this country's 9/11.
Malls, cinema halls and schools will, however, remain shut for the second day Friday.
Sporadic bursts of gunfire and explosions continued till past midnight from the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel and the nearby hotel Oberoi Trident as commandos from the National Security Guard (NSG) threw a ring around the two places before moving in to sanitise the two buildings room by room and floor by floor.
The gunfire died down as the commandos moved into the two hotels.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flew into Mumbai Thursday night and drove straight from the airport to the JJ Hospital to meet some of the injured even as a huge fire raged at the landmark Taj hotel facing the seafront Gateway of India monument and was doused with some difficulty.
By Thursday evening, NSG director general J.K. Dutt announced that only two terrorists remained to be captured or killed in the Oberoi complex while a single terrorist, injured but still free, was holed up in the Taj. He also said his men were "in total control of the situation" at Nariman Bhavan.
By Thursday evening, all hostages had been freed from the iconic Taj hotel, one of the first of 10 targets of the terrorists.
As the evening progressed, several hostages were seen walking out of the Trident hotel and the Nariman House in south Mumbai where the terrorists, believed to be from Pakistan, had fanned out after landing in darkness at a fishing village Wednesday night by boat armed with arms and ammunition.
In no time, the gunmen began firing from automatic rifles and hurling grenades, killing people at will. By Thursday evening, the death toll had risen to 125, including about half a dozen foreigners.
Assisting the NSG were the army and the navy as well as the riot police.
As they prepared for the final onslaught, three fires broke out at the Taj extensively damaging the 105-year-old heritage building. At the Oberoi, people were seen waving desperately from the windows.
"It's a motivated, well planned terrorist attack," added Major General R.K. Hooda of the Indian Army.
Mumbai remained tense through the day, with few people venturing out of their homes. Most suburban trains -- the city's lifeline -- ran virtually empty. Schools, colleges and businesses were shut. Wednesday's attack was the third major terrorist strike in Mumbai since March 1993.
A stunned international community condemned the wanton killings. US president-elect Barack Obama asked Washington to work with India to root out and destroy terrorist networks worldwide. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "Such violence is totally unacceptable." The European Union also denounced the terrorists.
The US, Britain, Canada, Australia and France were quick to warn their citizens to avoid travel to Mumbai. The US embassy in New Delhi urged its nationals to defer travel to Mumbai for 48 to 72 hours.
