Mumbai marks six years since terror attack that killed Chabad emissaries

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(JTA) — The Mumbai Chabad house will soon open a memorial to all the victims of the attack six years ago that left 166 people dead, including the Chabad directors and four Jewish tourists.

India on Wednesday marked six years since a series of attacks on luxury hotels, a train station, a popular café and the Chabad House in Mumbai by members of a Pakistan-based terror organization.

“Followers of the movement passing through here have been lighting a single candle for the past week in remembrance of the people slain in this disaster,” Naftali Charter, head of security at the Chabad center, told AFP Wednesday.

Chabad emissaries Gabriel and Rivky Holtzberg were killed in the attack along with four Jewish visitors: two from Israel, one from Brooklyn and one from Mexico. The couple’s son Moshe, then 2 years old, was rescued by his Indian nanny and now lives in Israel with his grandparents. His nanny, Sandra Samuel, also relocated to Israel.

Following the attack, Chabad in Mumbai continued its activities in temporary locations throughout the city, directed by Rabbi Yisroel Kozlovsky and his wife, Chaya.

Chabad’s Nariman House was rededicated in August. The top two floors now serve as a Jewish museum. The bullet holes made by the terrorists have been preserved.

“Today, as we remember the horror of the terror attack in Mumbai in 2008, we feel the endless pain of lost lives,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday. “Let us work together to fulfill the pledge we have taken to combat terrorism and transnational crimes.”

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