Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paid tribute to the victims of deadly attacks in Mumbai city on this day nine years ago.
The attacks killed nearly 166 people including foreign nationals. 10 Pakistani gunmen spent three days spraying bullets and throwing grenades around city landmarks.
During his 38th monthly radio address, Modi recalled the sacrifice of the citizens and security personnel who lost their lives in the attack.
Several parliamentarians and legislators were among those who paid their tributes.
The carnage that had shocked the nation is still fresh in the minds of survivors and family members of the victims.
Nearly 60 people were killed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
The militants had also wreaked havoc on two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a bar popular with tourists.
Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi: “How can this country forget that nine years ago on 26/11 militants had launched an attack on Mumbai? The country remembers and bows to those brave citizens, policemen, security men and each one who lost their lives then. This country can never forget their sacrifice.”
The militants arrived on the city shoreline in a dinghy, before splitting into four groups and embarking on a killing spree.
They held off elite commandos for up to 60 hours.
Several people were held hostage for three days before the National Security Guards (NSG) commandos killed the militants in the siege as they undertook Operation Black Tornado.
Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, who was then the lone surviving militant, was arrested and kept at a high-security prison in Mumbai.
He was later hanged in 2012.
Then President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his clemency plea against the death sentence by the country’s Supreme Court.
