Victory Lion's Blogosphere

For 58 hours, as a bunch of determined, and lethally armed, terrorists held Mumbai to ransom, out to destroy everything, our men in uniform have taken them on, bravely and against all odds. No words will be enough to pay tribute to them.

Here are some questions posted by citizen journalists that may prove to be crucial in the investigations by the security agencies

1. If the terrorists just wanted to kill everyone, they had ample opportunity to do so. They were obviously holding out for some kind of deal. Did the NSG spend those 10 hours negotiating a deal? Did they even make contact? Its hard to believe that the NSG stormed the place and rescued almost every person taken hostage.

2. What was the RDX going to be used for? The police found 8 kgs of RDX behind Taj. Was this forgotten by the terrorists? Or was this a drop point for them to pick up later? The explosions inside the hotels were mainly grenades and plastic explosives.

3. Is it clear at this point that most of the terrorists are Punjabi? Watching videos on India TV, we see them referring to incidents like Babri Masjid and Gujarat and also sporadic Hindi words like Neta, Shanti and parivar, but the accent is undeniably Punjabi. One terrorist also used the word 'Rab' interchangeably with Allah, and referred to 'Waqt' as 'WAKAT'. What is more all their sound bytes were basic monologues, that they seem to have memorised. And in the Big Picture, looking at their clean cut faces, lithe physiques and smart logistical moves and mastery over weapons, what are the chances that these are not terrorists, but trained Pakistani commandos themselves?

4. How did the room service guys not find the bombs if it had been preserved somewhere within the Taj? Some room service guys are involved? Someone inside the Taj is definitely involved.

5. Why did the terrorists not blow up the full building itself? What can be the reason for this? I do not believe that they do not have the ammunition for that or planning. I believe if they wanted they could have done it.

6. The television visuals clearly showed Hemant Karkare wearing a helmet and a bullet-proof vest. How did he get hit in the chest?

7. When a lot of hostages escaped from the Taj at around 3-4 AM on Thursday, none of them were questioned when they escaped from the rear of the Taj. This means that the terrorists as well could don a normal citizen's clothes and escape without any questions asked. What about Mumbai or rather Indian citizens's security if even one among them gets lost in Mumbai's crowds?