26/11: Army report slams 'lack of coordination'

The proposal came amid the army noting that the lack of synergy among forces resulted in the delay in eliminating terrorists who struck the financial capital of the country on November 26.

"Most of the agencies were working in isolation, in the absence of a nominated overall commander of all forces, resulting in under-utilisation of available capability," the army said in an analysis of the anti-terror operation on November 26.

"While the operations were being conducted by the NSG (National Security Guards), its Inspector General (Operations) arrived later on November 27 while its Director General reached much later," the army said in its report.

It said, "Centralised command and control at national and state level needs to be established for coordinating actions of all agencies during such attacks."

The official report, prepared by the army's Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa area headquarters, also suggested that such command and control centre should be under either the state police or the NSG and the army columns could be committed to special roles during the operations.

The control of operations, it said, was basically restricted to actual operations of Team Leader being supported by the higher commanders, as they reached Mumbai.

"The army operations were coordinated through its control  room activated at Mumbai Sub-Area Headquarters. This control room is basically established during aid to civilian authorities," the army's analysis said.

A sub-text to the "lessons learned" during the operations stressed the need for a mobile control room, which needed to be established and it would be incorporated soon, it added.

The report also slammed the lack of synergy among intelligence gathering and disseminating agencies while the anti-terrorist operations were in progress in Mumbai.

"Collection and dissemination of actionable intelligence from captured terrorists, hostages released or escaped from the targeted buildings need to be ensured," the report said.

The operations, the report said, was handicapped by the lack of detailed construction layout of the buildings targeted by the terrorists on November 26.

"Details and construction layouts of each value targets needs to be readily available to avoid delay in finalisation and execution of anti-terror operation plans. Municipal authorities should be made responsible for providing the layouts to the police, special forces and army units during such operations," it added.