The first gruesome reports surfaced last Sunday. Doctors examining the bodies of the victims of the terrorist assault upon Mumbai discovered evidence that before death, there may have been torture.

An unnamed doctor interviewed by the Indian site rediff.com drew particular attention to the Jewish victims:

The other doctor, who had also conducted the post-mortem of the victims, said: “Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again,” he said.

Corroborating the doctors’ claims about torture was the information that the Intelligence Bureau had about the terror plan. “During his interrogation, Ajmal Kamal said they were specifically asked to target the foreigners, especially the Israelis,” an IB source said.

It is also said that the Israeli hostages were killed on the first day as keeping them hostage for too long would have focused too much international attention. “They also might have feared the chances of Israeli security agencies taking over the operations at the Nariman House,” he reasoned.

However, a report carried by The Times of India the following day, quoting an Israeli official who flew out to Mumbai, was more equivocal:

The forensic team arrived in Mumbai late Sunday aboard a chartered flight and were using DNA testing and dental records to identify bodies so mutilated they could “not be identified from their faces”.

“Many of the killed have been badly mutilated before or during the operation (to end the hostage crisis). The condition was bad before but it is worse now.

“It might have been because of torture, I cannot say, but when there is shooting and grenades being exploded by terrorists, people do get mutilated,” he said.

Then yesterday, the Jerusalem Post quoted another doctor who cast doubt on the torture claims:

Dr. Gajanan Chawan, who saw

Asked if he saw any evidence of torture on

On Monday, a morgue employee at the JJ hospital who had also seen

“On the Jewish bodies, there were more injuries in numbers, they were firearms

Now, though, the New York Times reports that torture did apparently take place:

Gruesome new evidence also emerged Thursday suggesting that some of the six people killed at the Jewish center in Mumbai had been treated savagely. Some of the bodies appeared to have strangulation marks and wounds on their bodies did not come from gunshots or grenades, the police said.

More details will doubtless emerge in the coming days. But I can’t help thinking about something which Sandra Samuels, the heroic nanny who pulled Moshe Holzberg to safety, recounted about the rescue: “When I got upstairs all the terrorists were apparently on the roof. I found Moishe standing next to his parents. Everything was full of blood. I grabbed him, went outside the room and ran outside.”

That the hostages were subjected to barbaric behavior is now beyond doubt. All that remains is the grisly question as to its degree.