Ex-Army man recalls 26/11 attack in German documentary

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India] Nov 22 (ANI): Brigadier (Retd.) Govind Sisodia has featured in a German documentary based on the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The former army man was the then Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the National Security Guard (NSG) who had led the team of ‘Black Cat’ commandos during the operation.

The documentary, titled ‘Spur des Terror’, released in Germany and other European countries on November 21. The dreaded terror attacks have been recreated in the film.

Brigadier (Retd.) Govind Sisodia, from Chopal in Shimla district, features prominently in the film. Apart from leading NSG commandos during 26/11 attacks, he has also led several anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Elucidating on how tough the operation was, Sisodia spoke about the troops fell short of time given the less time at hand.

“I was told by the Director-General that the commandos have to move because the situation is going out of hand. We had very less time after we were given the order to move. Troops were moved from Manesar and taken to the airport, it took some time to travel,” he said.

He further spoke how they only had a ‘hazy idea of the whole situation’.

“The briefing and discussion took place in the aircraft, we didn’t have any information or maps, we didn’t even know how many people had died by then, just a hazy idea of the whole situation. We were self-contained with arms and weapons to lead the operation,” he continued.

“When we reached the Police Headquarter Control Room, Mr. Rakesh Maria explained the whole situation. We were receiving public calls, they were all panicky and scared. We reached the Taj and Oberoi hotel after the briefing where the police were already present,” added Sisodia.

The ex-Army official went on to explain that they decided to tackle the situation at Taj Hotel and Oberoi Trident first as these two places had the most number of people trapped. He also stated that they finished the operation at Oberoi Trident earlier than Taj.

He further opined that the operations at Taj were more challenging, what made the situation more delicate was the pressure to ensure no innocent person is harmed.

“We tried calling people (in their rooms) but no one answered since people were scared,” he said.

He concluded by saying that the security forces’ biggest asset was the support from Government, police and the public. [source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]