Targeted Mumbai hotels open with tighter security

MUMBAI, India
-- The blood has been mopped up, the grenade-scarred marble replaced, the bullet holes covered over.

But the reopening Sunday of parts of the iconic Taj Mahal hotel - less than a month after militants stormed the building, spraying staff and guests with gunfire and grenades - comes with more than just a new plaster and paint job. There are new security measures and officials promise a new type of luxury hotel: an "invisible fortress" that can protect guests as well as pamper them.

"We can be hurt, but we will never fall," a defiant Ratan Tata, chairman of Taj owner Tata Group, said as guests checked into Taj tower for the first time since the Nov. 26 attacks.

The Trident portion of the Oberoi hotel complex also reopened on Sunday, though the main areas of both luxury hotels are expected to stay closed for months. But with the holidays approaching, the two landmarks rushed to woo guests back.

Police manned barricades outside the Taj Sunday night while armed, undercover guards kept watch inside. Everyone walking into the lobby was asked for proof of their hotel reservation. Visitors handed their bags over for inspection and walked through metal detectors as their luggage was scanned through X-ray screening machines.

Among those checking in was a Californian who survived the attacks. During the siege, Deepak Dutta, 50, said he spent 24 hours locked in his room - praying - before being rescued.

Dutta said he checked into the very same room Sunday "to show the terrorists that our spirit cannot be shaken."