The Hindu Business Line : Terror in the neighbourhood: Israelis under siege

It would have passed off as any other dingy lane, with a non-descript board reading ‘The Mahanagar Co-operative Bank Ltd’ at its entrance. But the army convoys, the presence of elite commando teams, the police and the hoards of on-lookers standing at a safe distance from the lane, spoke of a more sinister story.

The cream coloured, five-storied building down the lane was one of the three locations in the city, where gun-totting men had taken hostages – the Israeli families residing in the new building.

Neighbours largely stayed indoors, gripped with fear probably, as the gun-men were reported to have shot a man and woman who were watching the stand-off from a neighbouring building. People avoided standing in the line of fire from the window of the building, again, as gun-men had allegedly lobbed grenades the previous night.

With little being visible to the outside world, the world’s media standing in wait at Nariman House (as the residential building was called) were merely witness to commandos taking positions and entering the building, sporadic sounds of gun-shots, and reports of an injured person inside.

Except for a child and woman who were released on Thursday morning, the rest of the day did not see any more releases, at least till the newspaper went to press. Four gun-men were reportedly holed up in the building, one was allegedly killed, while there were unconfirmed reports of another jumping to the neighbouring building.

There were brief moments of hope, when shell-shocked old women, a little girl, a man and a woman were brought out to safety, however they were from the neighbouring building and not the one under seige.

A neighbour said that Nariman House was recently built and it had been rented out, possibly over the last two years. However, they claimed not to have known their Israeli neighbours. Boys from the locality though, helped out the law-keepers, keeping media and other members of the public away from the line of fire.

But as the day progressed and night crept in, a search-light was put up near the lane, even as residents looked wearily to another night of unresolved terror in their neighbourhood.

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