Commandos on Friday ended a (..) standoff at the office of the ultra-orthodox Jewish group Chabad Lubavitch by lowering themselves from helicopters and blowing a hole in the office wall.
During the operation, the commandos killed two militants, only to discover the bodies of the six hostages inside, the city's police chief confirmed.
Two of the hostages killed were identified as Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, the couple who ran the centre, said a spokesman for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Their 18-month-old son had been one of three people rescued from the centre on Thursday.
In a telephone interview with CBC News from outside the centre, freelance journalist Arun Asthhana said there are reports that some of the militants had stayed at a guest house there for up to 15 days before the attacks.
"They had a huge mass of ammunition, arms and food there," Asthhana said.
The slain rabbi and his wife were emissaries who had made their home in Mumbai and set up the centre to give Jews visiting India a place to feel at home, get kosher food and reconnect with their heritage, according to friends.