Akshardham Temple attack
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The Akshardham Temple attack (or Akshardham Temple siege) occurred on September 24, 2002 when two heavily armed Muslim terrorists arrived at the Akshardham in Gandhinagar, the capital of Western Gujarat state in India at around 1630 hrs local time. They scaled the perimeter fence and opened fire, killing a woman and a temple volunteer right away. Then they began throwing grenades into the crowd at the temple. About 600 people were in the temple at the time. By the end of the attack, 29 people were killed and another 79 wounded. Apart from the 25 people killed in the first assault, 1 state police officer and 1 commando also died in the action. One more seriously injured commando Surjan Singh Bhandari died after about 2 years of being in coma fighting death.
This was also the first major hostage taking since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States.
Around 50 people were trapped inside the building and quick action of the volunteers in the temple denied the attackers access to people inside. The National Security Guard (NSG) commandos commonly called 'black cats' intervened to end the siege in an operation called vajra shakti. All 50 trapped personnel were rescued and released after identity checks.
