Carnage As Gunmen Strike Indian Hotels

[cappie]

Coordinated attacks sweeping through India's financial capital Mumbai have left at least 78 dead and scores injured. Gunmen targeted luxury hotels and tourist landmarks, seizing hostages in violence that left the head of Mumbai's anti-terror operations dead and one hotel in flames.

Police said shooting was continuing and that the incidents were co-ordinated terrorist attacks. Gunmen have taken hostages at two luxury hotels.

At least seven sites have been targeted across India's financial capital.

A fire is sweeping through the Taj Palace, Mumbai's most famous hotel which is now surrounded by troops.

The BBC's Andrew Whitehead says a claim of responsibility by a little-known group, Deccan Mujhaideen, may harden suspicions that Islamic radicals are involved.

In the latest developments:

* Commandos have surrounded two hotels, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi, where gunmen are reported to be holding dozens of hostages, including foreigners
* A fire appears to be spreading through the Taj Mahal hotel
* A witness told local television that the gunmen were looking for people with British or US passports
* The head of Mumbai's anti-terrorism unit is among those killed, according to local TV
* At least two blasts, suspected to be grenade attacks, have been reported
* The US and the UK have both condemned the attacks

On Wednesday, gunmen opened fire at about 2300 local time at sites in southern Mumbai including a train station, two five-star hotels, a hospital and a restaurant popular with tourists.

Police said the gunmen had fired indiscriminately.

"The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed," said AN Roy, police commissioner of Maharashtra state.

Mumbai journalist: "Gunmen were looking for Westerners"

At least 10 people were killed at the main station Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, they said.

Some gunmen were still holed up in buildings that had been targeted, officials said.

Mr Roy said gunmen were holding people hostage at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels.

Local TV images showed blood-splattered streets, bodies being taken into ambulances and dramatic shots of what appeared to fresh blasts inside the Taj Mahal hotel.

One eyewitness told the BBC he had seen a gunman opening fire in the Taj Mahal's lobby.

He said he had seen people fall before he fled the lobby.

"All I saw was one man on foot carrying a machine gun type of weapon - which I then saw him firing from and I saw people hitting the floor, people right next to me," he said.

[url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7751160.stm"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7751160.stm[/url]

[Seven77]

watching the news...man...

[cappie]

An Australian bride caught up in the terror blasts in Mumbai says the city is in chaos.

Chloe Papazahariakis told the Nine Network that Mumbai is in "total lockdown".

"I've just moved to this beautiful city to marry my husband in four days and I've got about 20 friends here for the wedding in the midst of all this chaos," Ms Papazahariakis said.

"We just can't believe it."

Ms Papazahariakis was speaking from the restaurant where her reception is to be held.

She said a nearby hospital had been bombed by terrorists and the death toll had reached 75.

"They are targeting every suburb in this city but the most tragic thing is that for the first time ever they are targeting big-time foreigners and five star hotels," she said.

"There have been a lot of bombs in India and they normally target marketplaces and the poorer society but where we are at the Taj Mahal Hotel, an historical hotel, they have eight foreign hostages.

"They've got hand grenades and police are very worried they are suicide bombers.

"They are on a rampage - it's full-on and they are not stopping."

AAP

[Apotheoun]

Lord have mercy.

[Seven77]

some distant relatives work at the Oberoi hotel...

prayers

[puellapaschalis]

Am watching the tv and praying.

[cappie]

Alex Chamberlain was in a restaurant at the Oberoi hotel when he heard gunfire.

Gunmen stormed the building and he and a group of people were ushered into the kitchen.

Chamberlain told Sky News that one of the waiters was shot in the arm.

The group of about 30-40 people were then "marched up like sheep" by a "young guy with a sub-machine gun, who was about 22-23".

The gunman then told people to stop and asked them to put their hands up. The attacker asked if any of the people were British or Americans.

Chamberlain said: "My Indian friend told me 'don't be a hero' and tell him you're Italian and that kind of stuff'."

Chamberlain said he got to about the 18th floor of the hotel and there was a gunman below them, and there were gunshots above and smoke everywhere.

The Briton and another person managed to sneak out of a fire door "without the gunman seeing us", where they stayed for about 15 minutes.

Chamberlain said: "I phoned my girlfriend and told her I loved her and thought it would be the last time I would talk to anyone."

He then walked "slowly downstairs expecting to see somebody with a gun around the corner" but they had gone.

He then smashed a window. He said "the smoke was so thick I thought we were going to suffocate".

Chamberlain said he walked into the lobby and when he came out into the street there were about 20 police officers there "looking just as scared as any of us" and a few fire engines.

Chamberlain called it "the ugly face of Islamic fundamentalism" because of the "language and venom in which the people were asked if they were American or British".

The Briton, who works for the Indian Premier League cricket, said: "They were talking about Britons and Americans specifically".

He added: "They shot people completely unnecessarily".

At least seven sites have been targeted across the south of the city by terrorists armed with explosives and automatic weapons.

Gunmen struck at several high-profile tourist areas in the city, including hotels, a popular tourist cafe and a crowded train station.

It is unclear exactly how many people have been killed and injured, but police say at least 80 have died and 250 have been hurt.

A major fire broke out at the scene of one of the attacks, the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, where some people are still trapped and rescuers are trying to reach them.

Others are being held hostage elsewhere across the city, reports say.

[MissyP89]

My aunt and uncle are in India on vacation. She is American, and he is British. We're calling the travel agent in the morning...

[Mercy me]

This is horrific. Prayers for all those hundreds who are victims.

[puellapaschalis]

Japanese Foreign Ministry has said that a Japanese national has been killed.

[cappie]

Hostages held, Mumbai death toll climbs

A standoff continued at the Oberoi Hotel, where about 100 members of a specialized unit of the Indian police undertook an operation to rescue four to five foreigners hostages on the 19th floor.

About four to six people were believed to be holed up in the Taj, said A.N. Roy, the Maharashtra police chief.

The death toll from the series of coordinated attacks was at 101 by midday Thursday authorities said. The number of people wounded in the attacks has also been raised to 314, said Pradeep Indulkar, deputy secretary for Maharashtra, the state where Mumbai is located.

At least six foreigners were killed in the series of attacks across southern Mumbai, according to a state official

A British citizen and another from Australia were among the dead, said Pradeep Indulkar, deputy secretary for Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located. A Japanese businessman was also killed, the country's foreign ministry confirmed.

The nationalities of the other foreigners killed were not yet available.

In addition, at least nine gunmen were killed in gunfire exchange with police. Seven British citizens were wounded in the attacks, as were two Australians, officials from the two countries said.

Also among the victims was Hemant Karkare, the chief of the Mumbai police's anti-terror squad was among those killed, and as many as 11 police officers. Video Watch as new gunfire erupts at the Taj hotel »

An American woman who was still inside the Taj with her husband told CNN by phone Thursday that television feeds into the room have stopped and she did not know what was going on.

Gunmen also remained holed up in a building called Nariman House, where several Jewish families live. Police said the men fired indiscriminately from the building throughout the night and into Thursday morning. Stray bullets killed a couple in their home and a 16-year-old boy who stepped outside, police said.

CNN's sister station CNN-IBN reported that three people, who appeared to be foreigners, escaped from the building. Police have the building surrounded and exchanged gunfire in which one of the gunmen reportedly was killed, CNN-IBN said

A standoff at a fourth location -- the Cama Hospital for women and infants -- also appeared to have been resolved by Thursday morning, CNN-IBN reported. It was not immediately known whether gunmen at the hospital fled or were killed.

[Innocent]

Just heard on the TV news:

Death toll 101, (another station said 200, but in the scrolling headlines, it was 101) 250 injured; 16 policemen killed, including high level officers; gunfights still going on between terrorists and police; the terrorists are demanding that all terrorists imprisoned in Indian jails be released if the hostages are to be let go; police boarded a boat which is supposed to have brought the terrorists to Mumbai; some group calling itself "Deccan Mujahedeen" takes responsibility for the attacks.

Edited November 27, 2008 by Innocent

[cappie]

ndian bishops and Pope Benedict have condemned Mumbai terrorist attacks that have killed over 125 people with local auxiliary Bishop Bosca Penha calling on Catholics "to go on their knees to pray and build bridges among religions."

"We condemn this dastardly act of terrorism," Auxiliary Bishop Bosco Penha of Bombay told UCA News.

He appealed to people of all religions to pray, forgive, reconcile and unite as children of God in these traumatic times. He also directed parishes to pray during every Mass for peace and religious harmony in the city.

Every Catholic, he said, should "go on their knees to pray and get involved in building bridges among people of all religions. We need to innovate ourselves to spread peace, harmony and brotherhood in the city."

Bishop Penha is currently in charge of Bombay archdiocese while its head, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, is recuperating from cancer surgery.

"The unprecedented ferocity of the terror attack" shocked local Church leaders, Bishop Penha admitted. He said he has talked to Cardinal Gracias about the Catholic Church taking more "responsibility" to do "something solid in Mumbai."

Teams of terrorists armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked 11 locations in Mumbai beginning around 9.30pm on November 26.

Most of the sites targeted were in the main tourist and business district, including the city's main commuter train station, a hospital and two luxury hotels, where gunmen held dozens of hostages. Officials said at least eight militants and 11 policemen had been killed. Media reports now put the death toll from the attacks at 125 and the number of people wounded at 314.

Several targeted buildings are near the Catholic archbishop's residence and Jesuit managed St Xavier's College.

Archdiocesan spokesperson Fr Anthony Charanghat, who lives at the archbishop's house, told UCA News he heard gunfire and grenades explode and knew "sometime terrible was happening."

He said the attacks began at a popular seafood restaurant where young gunmen moved in cars and opened fire and exploded three grenades "killing anybody in site." They then proceeded to a busy train station and a cinema house. The administration has imposed curfew in the area, Fr Charanghat reported.

The attacks have frightened people of all religions, according to Dolphy D'Souza, president of Bombay Catholic Sabha (council). "Words don't come so easily to express anything except that fear is writ large on the face of this city," he told UCA News.

Abraham Mathai, a Protestant and vice president of the local Maharashtra State Minority Commission, reported that he toured targeted sites until 4am. Young people who could easily pass as college students spread the terror and panic in the city, he said.

"The terror attacks have shaken the Church in the city," added Joseph Dias, general secretary of Mumbai based Catholic Secular Forum. The Catholic Church should take a proactive role to broker peace and harmony, Dias told UCA News, saying his group will try to reach out to the bereaved families and expose the terrorists' machinations to disturb peace in the country.

Michael Pinto, vice chairman of the National Commission for Minorities and parishioner of the Cathedral of the Holy Name in Mumbai, says the latest terrorist attacks were planned to project India as an unsafe destination and hurt its economy.

[cappie]

Millionaire shot minutes after BBC interview

A British shipping millionaire has been gunned down in his Taj Mahal hotel room just minutes after speaking to the BBC via telephone.

Andreas Liveras, 73, was shot literally moments after he gave an eyewitness account of the horrors of the terrorist attacks.

He is one of more than 125 people, including two Australians, believed killed in the attacks by Islamic extremists.

Mr Liveras was pronounced dead on arrival at St George's Hospital in Mumbai after suffering multiple gunshot wounds, hospital officials told The Times.

Before he was shot, Mr Liveras, who had amassed a £315 million fortune from his luxury yacht charter business, told the BBC he had just sat down for dinner at the Taj Mahal when the shooting began.

"We heard the machine gunfire outside in the corridor," he told the BBC.

"We hid ourselves under the table and then they switched all the lights off. But the machine guns kept going, and they took us into the kitchen, and from there into a basement, before we came up into a salon.

"There must be more than a thousand people here. Nobody comes in this room and nobody goes out, and we really don't know. Everybody is just living on their nerves."

Several English businessmen who were staying at the Oberoi Hotel when it was attacked have been interviewed and described gunshots as the lift doors opened to the lobby. When the doors opened they heard loud bangs but when two Japanese men in the lift with them stepped out they immediately motioned that they re-enter the lift: "We took the lift to the lobby and heard bangs as the door opened. Two Japanese men riding with us got out, but immediately signalled for us to go back in the lift," Alan Jones told The Times.

"As they got back in, a bullet hit one of the Japanese men in the back of the leg. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere.

"I looked up to see one of the gunmen was approaching. I tried to close the door, but the injured guy's leg was preventing it from closing.

"I frantically pressed the 'close door' button, but had to move the shot man's foot for the door to close."

Mr Jones escaped after being guided by staff to a basement via another lift.

Another, Hugh Brown, who was staying at the Taj Mahal, took refuge in a library area with a large group of people, one of whom later turned out to be a terrorist.

He told Sky News: "We were let out at one point at about 2.30am. There was a gunman who had been in among us in the room for the best part of the evening. He pretended to be one of us in the room.

"When he got out with us, he started shooting some of the people as they were leaving the room. He was then dealt with by the security forces."

[eagle_eye222001]

Wow. Wonder why they chose India. I would have expected some other country like England or America.

The gunmen seem to have inflicted severe carnage.

Edited November 28, 2008 by eagle_eye222001