Jews were tortured before being executed

Mumbai, Dec 2: Israeli hostages killed by Islamic terrorists during the attacks on Mumbai were tortured by their captors before they were bound together and killed, according to officials in both countries.

Doctors have expressed horror at the condition of the bodies recovered from Nariman House, which housed the Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch retreat. "I have seen so many dead bodies in my life, and was traumatised," The Telegraph quoted a mortician at Mumbai's JJ Hospital, as saying. "It was apparent that most of the dead were tortured. What shocked me were the telltale signs showing clearly how the hostages were executed in cold blood," he added. Jewish victims made up a disproportionate number of the foreigners killed after 10 Muslim fanatics stormed a series of sites in the Indian financial capital.

Both countries have posted officials at the JJ Hospital morgue but there are at least twice as many Israeli disaster specialists as British consuls representing the former colonial power.

Israeli officials confirmed six Jews were dead but the figure is likely to rise to eight. The total number of foreigners killed in the attacks stands at 22.

A forensic team arrived on a specially chartered flight on Sunday night.

"There are still a few yet to be identified - not a lot, under five - and this is why we need the forensic team," an Israeli diplomat said.

"And there are two or three Israelis unaccounted for and we have a couple of bodies that could be them," he added.

Police also said that 17 victims were pushed against a wall in the corridor of the Oberoi hotel and executed in a line. One man who served a glass of water to a terrorist at Mumbai's Victoria Terminus, now known as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, was shot in the forehead.

ANI