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David Jacobs, an Australian who works in New Delhi as head of India operations for the law firm Baker & McKenzie, was among those inside The Oberoi since Wednesday night. He was one of 148 people - hostages held by the terrorists or people trapped in their hotel rooms - who were brought out safely from the hotel; 24 others were killed. Jacobs described his harrowing experience - at one point, he said he had composed goodbye messages to his family - in an exclusive interview with TIME. (See pictures here of the two days of terror in Mumbai...
...touch with a security agency who kept me advised on what to do. I was still hearing gunfire and explosions, but I assumed that the attackers would want to cause maximum damage and run. I didn't think they'd want to lay siege to the entire hotel. I didn't think they'd come into rooms, and start coming into the upper levels. Then I saw on TV that they were targeting American and British citizens, and I thought my Australian [passport] wouldn't save me. Especially since I'm a Jew, and what could be worse when confronted...
...Saturday morning, the end of Mumbai's nightmare was practically at hand. The day before, two of the three hostage sites in the city had been secured: the Oberoi Hotel and Nariman House, the site of the Jewish hospitality center, were finally wrested from terrorist hands. The siege of the Taj dragged on into the night, however, despite assurances earlier on Friday from authorities with the National Security Guard, an elite Army unit, that the agony of the ornate and historic hotel was nearing an end. As most of the city slept, the Taj suffered at least six more massive...
...chaos that broke out on Wednesday night. Commandoes from the National Security Force,, began their assault on the Oberoi at about 11:30 a.m. local time. Within half an hour, the first batch of released hostages were coming out. By 2:30 p.m., the battle for the hotel was over, and the leader of the NSG team said that two terrorists had been killed in the fighting. In all, 148 people - both hostages and those who had been trapped in their rooms - were brought out safely. The bodies of 24 hotel guests were also recovered...
Their release gave the rest of the world a glance at what the siege looked like from the inside: hotel guests survived on drinks and snacks from the mini bar, with no official information reaching them. Among the first batch of released hostages was Kareem Sharif, an American-Canadian citizen, looking shaken but relieved. He said he'd been in the spa when the terrorists came in at 10:30 on Wednesday night and unleashed mayhem. He says they fired indiscriminately, and people took shelter wherever they could. David Jacobs, an Australian, said it wasn't the lack of food...