Locked in a bathroom at Mumbai’s Trident Oberoi hotel, a young Pakistani terrorist named Fahadullah knew the end was near. He was out of food, water, energy and ammunition, and could hear the steady stream of police gunshots getting closer.
He and nine other terrorists were winding down from a gruesome, 36-hour killing spree through the city, and he was talking on the phone to a handler far away in Pakistan.
“You mustn’t let them arrest you, remember that,” the controller insisted. “Fahadullah, my brother, can’t you just get out there and fight?”
Fahadullah could not. “I am out of grenades,” he weakly offered.
“Be brave, brother. Don’t panic. For your mission to end successfully, you must be killed. God is waiting for you in heaven.”
The tapes are part of a chilling documentary, airing Thursday on HBO and narrated by Mumbai native Fareed Zakaria. “Terror in Mumbai” pieces together the three days of chaos with cellphone conversations — many never heard before — between the gunmen and their controllers in Pakistan, as well as video footage of the police with Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only captured terrorist.
It was nearly a year ago, Nov. 26, 2008, that 10 gunmen arrived in Mumbai in a hijacked fishing boat. They broke up into pairs, hailed taxis and headed to critical city spots, including Leopold Café, a popular bar, two crowded luxury hotels, the Taj Mahal and Trident Oberoi, and the city’s bustling railway terminal.
A day and a half later, 164 innocent people were dead.
The terrorists were promised grandeur, acceptance by Allah into heaven and infinite glory. The gunmen, uneducated Pakistani peasants at best, were sent by Islamic terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (“Army of the Righteous”), an organization founded by the Pakistani government 15 years ago to wage war in the disputed border region of Kashmir.
It also has been reported that the group is headquartered near Lahore, backed by Saudi money and protected by Pakistani intelligence services.
In the group’s pamphlet, “Why we are waging jihad,” the United States, India and Israel are identified as enemies of Islam that must be fought.
The Mumbai police eavesdropped on 284 cellphone conversations between the gunmen and “Brother Wasi,” the only Pakistani commander dispensing orders.
The terrorists were calling an Internet number bought by a company in New Jersey with money transferred from Pakistan. The group was fed the traceable SIM cards by undercover Indian intelligence earlier that year — but they weren’t helpful in preventing the attacks.
The phone calls paint the terrorists as pathetic, quivering boys, sounding clearly rattled, brainwashed and unprepared for the atrocities they were committing.
You hear them stall with their commanders — sometimes for over an hour — unable to kill anymore. They repeatedly ask their commanders to pray for them, for their acceptance into heaven and that their sacrifice will be appreciated by Allah.
In between trying to ignite a blaze at the Taj Mahal, the boys were enthralled by the hotel’s five-star luxuries.
“There are computer monitors here with 30-inch screens!” one exclaims excitedly. “It’s amazing!’”
The media-savvy controllers urge them, firmly and directly, to stop looking around and to start a fire with mattresses and alcohol. They make it clear they want to be able to watch the chaos on television.
Once the fire raged, the commanders were thrilled. They commended the boys and rejoiced that the attacks were on TV all over the world.
Later, they alerted gunmen trapped inside Nariman House that helicopters were overhead and the end was near — even insisting that the gunmen leave their cellphones on when shooting hostages or when Indian military barged in.
The HBO show documents the human horrors of Mumbai from the victims’ perspective.
Twelve-year-old Afroze was at the Victoria train station on Nov. 26 with his family.
“The floor was vibrating with gunfire,” he told the filmmakers. “My ears went deaf. Everybody fell down. My uncle fell on top of me, I saw him get hit. Then Dad got shot. He fell in front of me.”
Afroze’s mother, father, uncle, brother-in-law and two cousins were among the 52 people killed at the station.
At Mumbai’s Chabad House, a rabbi and his pregnant wife were shot at the instruction that any Jews killed were worth 50 times as much as anyone else. “Just shoot them now,” the controller says, later adding impatiently: “Go on! I’m listening. Do it.”
At the Trident Oberoi, one of the gunmen locked himself in the bathroom, ready to give up the fight. Despite urging from his commanders, he remained in the bathroom with his phone on in his pocket until he was shot by the police, the call relaying his last breaths and moments.
At 1 a.m. Nov. 27, four hours after he’d come ashore, the police captured Kasab, who had attacked the railway station. He answered police questions from a hospital gurney, shirtless, the hole in his neck bandaged up.
Asked if he’d attacked elsewhere, he said: “Nowhere else. This is my first one. You do it once and you die.”
One year ago, Islamic terrorists struck the Indian city of Mumbai, killing 164 people. Indian security agencies were already monitoring the terror cell, and tapped calls between the terrorists and their controllers in Pakistan. A sample:
Controller: Fahadullah, you there?
Gunman: Yes, I’m listening.
Controller: You’re very close to heaven, brother.
Today’s the day you’ll be remembered for, brother.
The handler gives one of the terrorists guidance on what to tell the media when they call.
Controller: Give the government the ultimatum. Say, “This was just the trailer. Just wait till you see the rest of the fi lm. This is just a small example.”
Gunman: “Wait for the rest of the movie,” should I write that down? The main fi lm is yet to come.
Earlier, a handler had told one of the terrorists to light a fi re at the Taj Hotel, but the gunmen — peasants from rural Pakistan — are distracted.
Gunman: Salamalekhum.
Controller: Walekhum salaam. How you getting on? Have you started the fire yet?
Gunman: (Nervous laughter) No, we haven’t started it yet.
Controller: You must start the fi re now. Nothing is going to happen till you start the fi re. When people see the fl ames, they will start to be afraid. And throw some grenades, my brother. There’s no harm in throwing a few grenades. How hard can it be to throw a few grenades?
Gunman: (Excitedly) There are computers here with 30-inch screens!
Controller: Computers? Haven’t you set fi re to them?
Gunman: We’re just about to. You’ll be able to see the fire any minute.
Controller: We can’t wait if there aren’t any fl ames. Where are they?
Gunman: It’s amazing! The windows are huge! It’s got two kitchens, a bath and a little shop.
Controller: Start the fi re, my brother. Start a fire.
That’s the most important thing.
Handler “Brother Wasi” addresses gunmen at Chabad House, the Jewish center in Mumbai.
Controller: I told you, every person you kill where you are is worth 50 of the ones killed elsewhere.
Later, when there were no calls from the government to negotiate release of the hostages from Chabad House.
Controller: (Talking to superiors) Do you want to keep the hostages or kill them?
Controller: Listen up.
Gunman: Yes sir.
Controller: Just shoot them now. Get rid of them. You could come under fi re at any time and you risk leaving them behind.
Gunman: (Stalling) Inshallah. Although it’s quiet at the moment here.
Controller: No. Don’t wait any longer. You might never know when you come under attack. Just make sure you don’t get hit by a ricochet when you do it.
Gunman: Inshallah.
Controller: I’ll stay on the line. Go on! I’m listening.
Do it!
Gunman: What, shoot them?
Controller: Yes. Do it. Sit them up and shoot them in the back of the head.
Gunman: (Still stalling) The thing is, brother Umer (the other gunman) is asleep right now. He hasn’t been feeling too well.
Controller: I’ll you back in a half hour and you can do it then, OK?
(An hour later)
Controller: Well?
Gunman: Please don’t be angry. I had to move things around a bit.
Controller: Have you done the job or not?
Gunman: I was just waiting for you to call so you could listen.
Controller: Do it in God’s name.
Gunman: Yes sir, hold on.
(Shots are fired)
Controller: That was one of them?
Gunman: Both. Together.
After seeing the live action on TV with helicopters surrounding Chabad House, the controller calls with their final instructions.
Controller: Helicopter arrived?
Gunman: Yes. I think there is a helicopter on the roof.
Controller: Shoot! Shoot!
Gunman: They’ve opened fire! They’ve opened fire!
Gunman: (To other gunman) Umer! Take cover! Take cover! They’re firing in our room! I’ve been shot. I’ve been shot. Pray for me.
Controller: Where are you hit?
Gunman: One in my arm and one in my leg.
Controller: God protect you. Did you manage to hit any of their guys?
Gunman: We got one commando. Pray that God will accept my martyrdom.
Controller: Praise God. Praise God. God keep you.
One handler is talking to terrorists at the Oberoi Hotel.
Controller: How’s it going brother Fahadullah?
Gunman: Brother Abdul Rehman has just died, praise God.
Controller: Oh really? Is he nearby?
Gunman: Yes, he’s next to me.
Controller: (Praying) May Allah accept his martyrdom.
Gunman: The room is on fire.
They’re showing it on the TV.
I’m sitting in the bathroom.
Controller: (Sternly) You mustn’t let them arrest you, remember that.
Gunman: God willing. God willing. Inshallah.
later.
Controller: Fahadullah, my brother, can’t you just get out there and fight?
Throw a grenade and try to get out.
Gunman: I’ve run out of grenades.
Controller: Be brave, brother.
Don’t panic. For your mission to end successfully, you must be killed. God is waiting for you in heaven.
Gunman: Inshallah.
Controller: May God help you.
Fight bravely, and put your phone in your pocket but leave it on.
(The sound of a steady rain of gunshots fills the air.)
Controller: Fahadullah?
Fahadullah?
Ajmal Amir Kasab (pictured) was one of the 10 heavily armed boys sent by Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba to attack the city. This interrogation was recorded moments after his capture, and he is strapped to a gurney, heavily bandaged and visibly shaken. Kasab was part of the pair that killed 50 and wounded more than 100 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (or Victoria Terminus), the city’s main railway station. He is now in jail awaiting trial.
Police: How long were you in training?
Kasab: Three months. There were 24 or 25 in our class.
Police: Where were the people from?
Kasab: They don’t tell you. I only knew about one. He said he was from Lahore. He became my friend.
Police: Didn’t they allow you to speak to each other?
Kasab: We were forbidden to speak to each other. It was very strict. The proper training where they say, “This boy is ready now” — that only takes three months. That’s it.
Police: Did you ever ask, “Won’t I feel pity for the people I’m killing?”
Kasab: I did, but he said you have to do these things if you’re going to be a big man and get rewarded in heaven.
Kasab talks about his dad — a street snack vendor — who he said sold him to the terror organization for a few hundredthousand rupees because his family was so poor.
Kasab: He said, “These people make loads of money, and so will you. You don’t have to do anything difficult. We’ll have money. We won’t be poor anymore. Your brother and sister can get married. Look, son, look at these guys living the good life.
You can be like them.” So I said, fine, whatever, OK.
Police: So you came here for jihad? Is that right?
Kasab: (crying) What jihad?
Police: It’s no use crying. Tell me the truth. Is that right or no?
Kasab: You wouldn’t understand.