MUMBAI, INDIA, AND BOSTON — Mumbai's nightmare ended early today, nearly 60 hours after the start of a terrorist attack that left South Asia's financial capital deeply shaken and resulted in the deaths of at least 150 people, including four Americans.
As the focus shifted to identifying the dead and determining who was behind this body blow to India's psyche, busloads of commandos swarmed into the massive Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel, the militants' last holdout, to mop up, search for injured guests and ensure that no booby traps had been left behind.
As word spread that the worst was over, the city's residents and visitors finally exhaled after days of disbelief and shock as its local icons turned into bloody wreckage.
Shop owners considered reopening after days of lockdown, clumps of bystanders gathered to share the news, and the usual noise and bustle slowly returned.
"I'm overwhelmed with emotion that it's finally over," said Keki Dadiseth, who escaped from the Taj with 35 colleagues midway through the siege after breaking a window and descending a fire ladder. "It's an enormous relief."
In an impromptu news conference outside the Taj, J.K. Dutt, director of the National Security Guards, said three terrorists and a police commando had been killed in the final assault this morning and that police had started fires at the end to smoke out the militants.
Even as the government came under growing criticism for its slow response, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee stepped up accusations against unnamed interests in Pakistan, India's neighbor and longtime rival, following less direct allegations made by the prime minister a day earlier.
"Preliminary evidence, prima facie evidence, indicates elements with links to Pakistan are involved," Mukherjee told reporters in New Delhi.
Pakistan countered that it was not to blame. The new government of President Asif Ali Zardari has worked hard to reduce tensions between the two adversaries. But some fear that the devastating attack could push relations back into a deep freeze, achieving what the perpetrators may have wanted.
British authorities said they were investigating reports that some of the suspects were British or had ties to Britain.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his foreign minister said Friday that it was too early to draw conclusions about possible involvement of British citizens.
