Mumbai terrorists did not have enough explosive: NSG Chief

New Delhi , Nov .30 : The Director General of National Security Guards (NSG) J K Dutt today said that the terrorists at the Taj Palace hotel of Mumbai did not had plans to blow up the Taj heritage hotel as they lacked enough explosives for it.

The amount of explosives recovered from them does not indicate that they could bring down the building, Dutt said minutes after returning from Mumbai, in New Delhi.

NSG faced several difficulties during the 'Operation Cyclone', due to the century-old architecture of the Taj building, which has long connecting passages, spiral staircases and rooms with high ceilings, said the NSG Chief talking to media here.

Dutt said that terrorists were "quite familiar with locations" and kept moving from one place to another to avoid direct encounter with the commandos.

He denied media reports about a delayed operation. Dutt clarified that there was no delay on the part of NSG while starting operations to flush out terrorists at three places in Mumbai.

NSG commandos did not had the idea where one passage will lead, which was posing a hurdle in the operations.

Terrorists preferred big rooms with high ceilings and single exit and entry doors to take positions. "They avoided small rooms and kitchens where they could have been easily trapped by us," Dutt informed.

The terrorists were setting the upholstery on fire to distract the commandos so that they could change their positions.

"The moment a fire was started, fire brigades were called in and we paused shooting. They took advantage of this situation and changed their positions."Dutt informed.

Despite fire, we entered one of the rooms and shot one of the terrorists who fell out of the window which was even caught on camera," Dutt said.

ANI