'This is a pointer to war'

Terrorists of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks had planted two powerful bombs with timers in metal boxes at different places near the Taj hotel with notes scribbled in Urdu saying "Yeh jung ki aur ishara hai" (this is pointer to war), a witness told the trial court in Mumbai on Wednesday.

One of the boxes was found near Taj hotel where renovation work of Gateway of India was in progress and the other was located near Gokul hotel behind Taj, police inspector Prakash Bhoite, told special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

Both the boxes contained 8 kg RDX with timers and notes in Urdu saying that "this was pointer to war", the witness said.

Nikam told PTI that the version of the witness fortified the case of the prosecution that the aim of terrorists was not only to create terror in Mumbai but to wage war against India.

The prosecutor said the probe had revealed that the 26/11 terrorists were given these RDX-laden boxes by Lashkar-e-Tayiba conspirators in Pakistan and they had forgotten to remove the notes in Urdu.

The witness said he was on duty at Colaba police station on the day of terror attacks when he heard the firing shots outside. He rushed outside and learnt that two persons had entered hotel Taj after firing at Cafe Leopold.

Bhoite further said he was asked to look for explosives and during search he found two boxes near Taj hotel laden with explosives. Bomb detection and disposal squad was immediately summoned which defused the bombs.