An Mi-17 chopper quietly took off from INS KUNJALI on the morning of 28th November 2008.The helicopter made a few path corrections and started hovering over the 5 Storey Nariman house also known as the Jewish Centre.The complement of NSG SAG(Special Action Group) commandos onboard slithered down the rope onto the roof of the building.
The NSG commandos were dressed in Nomex Overalls , NIJ Level 3 bullet proof vests and were armed with Heckler and Koch MP5 SMG ,Glock Pistols ,Smoke and Fragmentation Grenades.
The commandos killed both the terrorists and discovered the bodies of 6 Israeli Hostages.The nation watched in awe.The Jerusalem post was quick to criticise the Indian operation as a failure.The NSG was blamed for mistakenly killing some of the hostages during the operation.These statements were later refuted by the Israeli Government.The reality was that military intercepts had confirmed that all the 6 hostages had been killed much before the operation started.
This was just one of the scenarios where the commandos saw action.The Taj and Oberoi Trident were being flushed out by another group of commandos in tandem.60 hours to take out 8 terrorists.Why did it take so long?Lets take a closer look.
The NSG men were unfamiliar with the layout of the Oberoi Trident and the Taj Mumbai.Hotels were not considered high value targets which meant they had never practised a Mumbai like scenario during live drills.They had to seek maps to plan a multi-pronged attack on the terrorists.The maps may have been outdated as interiors keep getting modified on a regular basis.
The terrorists were using high quality protective gear.It is likely that the MP5 bullets were not able to penetrate the bullet proof jackets used by the terrorists.The MP5 is a highly accurate and reliable weapon with great single shot accuracy but limited sustained fire capability.The commando teams were effectively pinned down by the murderous 7.62mm bursts from the AK -47s used by the terrorists.The body armor used by the NSG wasn't designed to withstand sharpnel penetration.So grenades lobbed by the terrorists had to be avoided at all costs.
Hand Held Thermal imagers were used by the commandos to locate terrorists .This was partially successfull as the terrorists regulary set fire to rooms to make their thermal signatures indistinguishable.There was no option for the commandos than to use their naked eyes.
The NSG men were looking for hostages and had to clear all rooms one by one.They also had to disitinguish hostages from terrorists , cover their backs , secure each floor.In a lot of cases people didn't open rooms even after repeated warnings.This consumed a lot of time.
The commandos were using vintage radio equipment which had poor battery life and were hand held.So you can't talk and shoot at the same time.Two way radios are way to noisy and its impossible to make out what the other party is saying amidst all the shooting and explosions.Better quality hands free radio headsets have been seen in use by the Indian Army in Kashmir and the north eastern states.This should have been adopted by the NSG too.
The commandos were using sign language in the dark.which meant co-ordination was limited and they were losing vital time.They could have used robotic probes for bomb and hostage detection.This kind of equipement is being actively used by special forces across the world.
The Mumbai attack was an eye opener for this elite anti-terror outfit.Heavily armed terrorists with ballistic protection,hostages and football ground sized floors tested the mettle of its men.Lessons learnt should be quickly incorporated in the new operational doctrine.New equipment needs to be quickly procured.This includes a dedicated aircraft and centres across all the metros.
