Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports that eight bodies were recovered from the Chabad House in Mumbai after Indian troops took control of the building and cleared it of terrorists this morning.
At Mumbai's JJ Hospital, the work of identifying the bodies continues. This afternoon, one of them was identified by her family as that of 60 year-old Yocheved Orpaz. Another was identified as that of a Mexican citizen. This means that, according to information supplied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, six of the eight bodies have been identified.
Yesterday, the bodies of Chabad emissary in Mumbai Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, both Israeli-born, were identified. Their two year-old son Moshe was rescued from the terrorists by a cook who worked at the center and who escaped from it at an early stage of the attack.
A statement from Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, said, "As emissaries to Mumbai, Gabi and Rivky gave up the comforts of the West in order to spread Jewish pride in a corner of the world that was a frequent stop for throngs of Israeli tourists.
"Their selfless love will live on with all the people they touched. We will continue the work they started."
Two other victims of the terrorists have been named as Leibish Teitelbaum, a US citizen, and Ben-Zion Croman, who held dual US-Israeli citizenship.
This morning, Indian security forces killed the last terrorists holding out at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, bringing to an end three days of fighting in the city that have left at least 195 people dead.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on November 29, 2008
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008