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. September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... The Akshardham temple complex at Gandhinagar Akshardham Gandhinagar is one of the largest temples lying in the Indian state of Gujarat. ... Gandhinagar   (Gujarati: ગાંધીનગર, Hindi: गाँधीनगर) is the capital of Gujarat State, India. ... In politics, a capital (also called capital city or political capital — although the latter phrase has a second meaning based on an alternative sense of capital) is the principal city or town associated with a countrys government. ... Gujarātlanguage|GujarātÄ«]]: , IPA: ,  ) is a state in the Republic of India. ... Time zones are areas of the Earth that have adopted the same standard time, usually referred to as the local time. ... A fence in Westtown Township, Pennsylvania A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. ... Temple of Hephaestus, an Doric Greek temple in Athens with the original entrance facing east, 449 BC (western face depicted) For other uses, see Temple (disambiguation). ... Grenade may refer to: The well-known hand grenade commonly used by soldiers. ... Surjan Singh Bhandari was a commando of the elite National Security Guards of the Indian armed forces. ...

This was also the first major hostage taking since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States. A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly...

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. The National Security Guards (NSG) is Indias prime counter-terrorist force. ...

See also

• List of hostage crises

This is a list of hostage crises by date. ...

External links

• Temple website