Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:33 Mumbai time
The large red sign over the double-width entrance to the Leopold Café, a popular tourist spot, still boasts that the restaurant had been in business “since 1871.” But the steel shutters were pulled down over the entrance on Friday afternoon, sealing the site of one of the first deadly assaults on Wednesday night. The attackers stood at the entrance and raked the diners with heavy fire from assault rifles.
The large red sign over the double-width entrance to the Leopold Café, a popular tourist spot, still boasts that the restaurant had been in business “since 1871.” But the steel shutters were pulled down over the entrance on Friday afternoon, sealing the site of one of the first deadly assaults on Wednesday night. The attackers stood at the entrance and raked the diners with heavy fire from assault rifles.
The power of the rounds is still visible from three that missed the diners. They struck the thick concrete pillars on either side of the entrance and penetrated more than an inch deep, leaving red stains.
Through a gap at the top of the shutters, the darkened restaurant can still be seen. Half-eaten meals still sit on tables and napkins lie on tables and chairs, as though the diners had disappeared suddenly into thin air instead of falling before a hail of bullets.
No sign of the fallen remains visible
By KEITH BRADSHER
Keith Bradsher, a Times correspondent, is sending The Lede updates from his Blackberry as he watches a commando operation taking place at the Nariman House
