Americans Killed in India; Interview With British Actor Joey Jeetun, Mumbai Attack Survivor
NGUYEN: Well, India's long terrorist nightmare has finally ended some 60 hours after two dozen terrorists slipped into Mumbai. And it's now over.</s>HOLMES: Yes, it's over now, but now the world and really all the attention has turned to finding out who exactly is responsible for these attacks that certainly paralyzed Mumbai for several days. Here's what we do know. The siege began around noon Wednesday, U.S. Eastern time. That was late Wednesday night in Mumbai. The death toll now at 183. That's down a bit from a previous figures that was given by the Indian authorities. The number of injured still around 300, and among the dead, five Americans.</s>NGUYEN: Well, the terrorists, they moved in fast. And their deadly attacks played out live as the world watched in horror. CNN's David Mattingly takes us through the timeline.</s>DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bursts of gunfire, grenade attacks and death.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was dark and there was blood all over the steps.</s>MATTINGLY: Within moments, Mumbai, a city of 18 million, is under siege. The timeline of terror begins Wednesday evening between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. The killers enter from the harbor, arriving in dinghies. "Newsweek" magazine reports the militants encounter fisherman, telling them to mind their own business before splitting up into small groups and fanning out across Mumbai. Their targets, luxury hotels, a hospital, cafes, the Chabad House Jewish center, and a train station. Around 9:30 p.m., the highly coordinated suicide attack is under way.</s>CAROL MACKOFF, TERROR ATTACK SURVIVOR: We heard shots. We saw men running down our hallway, and we could see though the peephole in the door. We could see guns in their hands. They actually rang our doorbell two times.</s>MATTINGLY: Within the next few hours, the horror sets in.</s>ANTHONY ROSE, WITNESSED FIRST ATTACK: They were using hand grenades to turn doors and then they seemed to retreat from that and started seeing other areas of the hotel. We could hear people, it seemed like, being dragged up to the roof of the hotel.</s>MATTINGLY: During that first night, the gunmen kill dozens, injure hundreds and take scores of hostages. Early Thursday morning, the fight intensifies, explosions rock the Taj Mahal hotel. And a huge plume of smoke rises into the night. By daybreak, the terror remains. Gunmen continue to hold hostages. Some are freed by soldiers and police officers. Everybody grabbed hands. And there was a woman's heel. And they were just standing there. And you knew people had died before as we're walking out.</s>MATTINGLY: Friday, the assault on the Trident Oberoi hotel lends with at least two extremists dead and more than 100 guests freed. But there are casualties. Among the killed, two Americans, Alan Scherr and his 13-year-old daughter, Naomi. At the Chabad House, where government forces had surrounded the building, the standoff ends. When officers enter the center they find two gunmen dead. They also recover the boyds of five hostages. David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.</s>NGUYEN: Well, we do want to tell you some more about the Americans killed in the Mumbai attacks. Two of the victims, as David just mentioned in his report, were a dad and his daughter. You see -- well, the daughter's not in that picture right there, but -- there she is. Alan Scherr and his daughter, 13-year-old Naomi, were part of a group on a meditation pilgrimage to the city. Their group, the Synchronicity Foundation, has set up a Web site, and people from all over the world are posting messages to honor the Scherrs. And the members of a Chasidic Jewish community are mourning a rabbi and his wife who were killed in the Mumbai attacks. The bodies of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg of New York and his wife Rivka were found inside the Chabad House, which is a Jewish community center. The couple's nanny -- listen to this -- actually managed to get their toddler out of danger.</s>HOLMES: All right. And another survivor of the events in Mumbai is Joey Jeetun. He was at a cafe, Cafe Leopold you've been hearing some about, when the terrorists stormed in, and they were specifically looking for westerners. Now, Jeetun, as a twist of fate here -- it's a crazy one as well -- is a British actor, and actually portrayed a terrorist in a movie. Well, Sir, good morning to you. Good to see you there doing well. Tell me what happened at this restaurant. And when did you realize what was happening?</s>JOEY JEETUN, ACTOR: I got there about 9:00 in the evening and I was just having a drink. I heard, like, what sounded like a light bulb blowing up. And then I realized that it must have been something a bit more, because a local Indian guy just grabbed me and pushed me to the floor, and he said to me, "Keep still and be quiet." At that point, I just covered myself, my face with my hands, and just curled up into a ball and literally just froze. I could hear what sounded like Chinese firecrackers going off. I wasn't sure if it was explosives or if it was bullets, but I just kept my hand down.</s>HOLMES: Now you were more, or so it sounds like -- like you said, you got your head down and doing what that stranger told you to do. So you were hearing more of it than you were seeing it.</s>JEETUN: That's correct, yes. I mean, I could hear screams and debris flying about, glass smashing. And when I opened my eyes at certain points, I didn't look up. I just kept my eyes focused to the floor. But I could see sort of blood just all over the floor.</s>HOLMES: And Joey, there were reports of other places where these terrorists went in and were looking for westerners, asking for those with American or British passports. Did you hear that question come out?</s>JEETUN: No, I never heard the guy speak at all. But the cafe where we were at is notoriously known for westerners. It's practically a tourist cafe.</s>HOLMES: Could you tell how many terrorists were in there? And also, give me and idea of how crowded the place was? How many patrons were there?</s>JEETUN: I don't have an exact number, but the place was packed. I mean, literally. All the tables are quite close together. When we went there, about 9:00, there was only one table left at the back. And that was the only table that we could get. It literally was just</s>HOLMES: And how long did this go on before you felt comfortable opening your eyes, bringing your head up, and getting up and knowing that there was an all-clear?</s>JEETUN: About three minutes the shooting stopped, but I stayed still because I wasn't sure if it was still happening. And then someone shouted out, "He's still here! He's still here!" I just stayed still, but some people got up because they thought that the person had gone, because there was no more noise. And then suddenly, a minute later, the shooting started again, and it was just going constantly. Again, for another two minutes. And I think those people that got up were shot again. I think they were waiting to see whether the people were actually injured or hurt. And if they were and not dead, they were going to kill them.</s>HOLMES: Joey Jeetun, again, one of the lucky ones. Again, describing that horrible scene there, many horrible scenes around that town. Joey, glad you are all right. Glad you were able to survive this thing. You take care. Thank you for sharing your story with us this morning.</s>NGUYEN: Well, at this hour, we still don't know who is responsible for the attacks in Mumbai, but the answer could have a big influence in relations between India and Pakistan, a relationship that's already on the razor's edge. Reeva Bhalla is considered an expert on terrorism trends. And she's the director of analysis at Stratfor, which is an online publisher of geopolitical intelligence. She joins us today from Austin, Texas. And let me ask you this, as we look at the details, at least what we know so far of these attacks, are there any signs that point to a particular group?</s>REVA BHALLA, SOUTHEAST ASIA ANALYST: Yes. Well, we are seeing several indications of a very complex operation involving several different players. One is the more indigenous homegrown element of Islamist militant activists in India who have been operating in the country for a while. These groups have been operating under the name Indian Mujahideen, primarily, and are tied to many groups within Pakistan as well, as well as rogue elements of the Pakistani ISI. So you do have a strong external link that traces back to Pakistan which has huge significance for India and Pakistani relations moving forward.</s>NGUYEN: During the killings, during the standoff, and during all of these attacks, we never really heard of any demands being asked for or anything like that. It just seemed like this was something they were hell bent on doing. What does that say to you?</s>BHALLA: Well, there are several interests in mind here. One is attached to the Kashmir cause, which is, you know, the militant groups operating India were trying to reactivate this cause, force the Indian and Pakistani governments to react. At the same time, you had the more Pakistani elements, al Qaeda in Pakistan, promoting more of a transnational jihadist agenda, trying to create a crisis along the Indo-Pakistani border and use Pakistan as more of a launch pad for a militant jihad.</s>NGUYEN: But usually groups, when something like this is carried out, they will step up and they'll say, yes, it was me, I'm going to take responsibility for this. But we're not seeing this. We heard one group a little bit earlier, days ago, but it was not really a well- known group that didn't have a whole lot of background to it. So what kind of signs are you seeing along those lines?</s>BHALLA: Yes, it's still very murky as to who exactly was behind these attacks. Again, we're seeing indications of Pakistani involvement, a homegrown element attached to this attack, as well...</s>NGUYEN: Yes, but doesn't it surprise you that no one is stepping forward, especially when we are seeing so much horror and so much death and destruction?</s>BHALLA: In many ways, yes. And I think we have to wait a couple of days to see exactly how this plays out, because really, now that the terrorist operations have wrapped up, we need to look forward at the responses of the governments involved, of India, Pakistan and the United States, primarily, because that's a primary objective of these groups, is to create a crisis between India and Pakistan and to further destabilize Pakistan. So the internal politics of India, the United States and Pakistan, is locking each country into place right now, and the way things are shaping up, it almost seems like a crisis is inevitable on the Indo-Pakistani border.</s>NGUYEN: Reva Bhalla joining us live today. Thank you for that insight. We do appreciate it.</s>BHALLA: Thank you.</s>HOLMES: All right. We will turn to the holidays. Still a lot to talk about, about, you know, the economy, people having to shop, trying to find all these gifts. It was Black Friday yesterday. Well, everybody is thinking about that gift shopping and how to maybe save some money. Robin Spizman, this is a woman that I've spent some time with. She actually took me shopping once, Betty.</s>NGUYEN: That's right. Last year, around this time.</s>HOLMES: She took me shopping. She's been called everything from the Gift Guru to the Super Shopper. She is in house. She is right over there. We'll be talking to her right after the break.</s>NGUYEN: Good stuff.