Mumbai burns under terrorist attack
Posted on November 27, 2008
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MUMBAI, India (AP) — Teams of gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, a crowded train station, and a Jewish group’s headquarters in India’s financial capital, killing at least 104 people, taking Westerners hostage, and leaving parts of the city under siege Thursday. A group of suspected Muslim militants claimed responsibility.
Police and gunmen were exchanging gunfire at two luxury hotels and dozens of people were believed held hostage or trapped inside the besieged buildings. Pradeep Indulkar, a senior official at the Maharashtra state Home Ministry said 104 people were killed and 287 wounded.
Officials said eight militants had also been killed in the coordinated attacks on at least 10 sites that began around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Gunmen also seized the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch, the New Yorkbased group said. Indian commandos surrounded the building Thursday morning and media reports said gunfire was heard from the building.
Police loudspeakers declared a curfew around Mumbai’s landmark Taj Mahal hotel, and blackclad commandos ran into the building as fresh gunshots rang out from the area, apparently the beginning of an assault on gunmen who had taken hostages in the hotel.
Soldiers outside the hotel said forces were moving slowly, from room to room, looking for gunmen and traps.
A series of explosions had rocked the Taj Mahal just after midnight Wednesday. Screams were heard and black smoke and flames billowed from the century-old edifice on Mumbai’s waterfront. Firefighters sprayed water at the blaze and plucked people from balconies with extension ladders. By dawn, the fire was still burning.
At the nearby upscale Oberoi hotel, soldiers could be seen on the roof of neighboring buildings. A banner hung out of one window read “Save us.” No one could be seen inside the room from the road.
Officials at Bombay Hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a Japanese man had died there and nine Europeans had been admitted, three of them in critical condition with bullet wounds. All had come from the Taj Mahal, the officials said.
At least three top Indian police officers, including the chief of the anti-terror squad, were among those killed, A.N. Roy, a top police official, said.
The attackers specifically targeted Britons and Americans at the hotels and restaurant, witnesses said.
Alex Chamberlain, a British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi, told Sky News television that a gunman ushered 30 to 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and, speaking in Hindi or Urdu, ordered everyone to put up their hands.
“They were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said, “Where are you from?” and he said he’s from Italy and they said ‘fine’ and they left him alone. And I thought, ‘Fine, they’re going to shoot me if they ask me anything. Thank God they didn’t,” he said.
Chamberlain said he managed to slip away as the patrons were forced to walk up stairs, but he thought much of the group was being held hostage.
The motive for the onslaught was not immediately clear, but Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic extremists, including a series of bombings in July, 2006, that killed 187 people.
Early Thursday, state home secretary Bipin Shrimali said four suspects had been killed in two incidents in Mumbai when they tried to flee in cars, and Roy said four more gunmen were killed at the Taj Mahal. State Home Minister R.R. Patil said nine more were arrested. They declined to provide any further details.
An Indian media report said a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the attacks in e-mails to several media outlets. There was no way to verify that claim.
Filipino visitor wounded; 2 chefs & their wives safe
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The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday confirmed a Filipino national visiting Mumbai on a business trip was wounded when armed men attacked Oberoi hotel in Mumbai Wednesday evening.
Quoting the Philippine embassy in New Delhi , Foreign Affairs Claro Cristobal said the Filipino received treatment for minor injuries. The victim was not identified.
The DFA official said two male Filipino chefs working at Oberoi’s Tiffen Restaurant were relocated to safer place, while their wives were taken to another hotel.
Earlier, Deputy Chief of Missions Maria Aileen Bugarin said that the two chefs are in safe condition.
Oberoi was seized on Wednesday evening , along with Taj Mahal hotel which has no Filipino employees.
Bugarin said there are 90 Filipinos registered at the Philippine consulate general which has jurisdiction over the states of Goa, Maharashtra, and Gujarat . Most of them are married to Indian nationals, she said. (Charissa M. Luci)
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Gunmen demand freedom for jailed mujahideens
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MUMBAI (Reuters) — At least 101 people were killed, including six foreigners, and another 287 people were wounded in attacks by suspected Islamist gunmen who also took many foreigners hostage in two of the city’s plushest hotels, police said on Thursday.
Some 16 hours into the crisis, scores of tourists remained trapped in the Taj Mahal hotel, a 105-year-old city landmark, and at the five-star Trident Oberoi in Mumbai’s downtown peninsula, the city’s financial and tourist heart, officials said.
One militant inside the Oberoi told Indian television by phone that the hostages would only be freed when all mujahideens, or Islamic holy warriors, being held in Indian jails were freed.
The man, who identified himself only as Sahadullah, said he was one of seven attackers inside the hotel.
Witnesses said the attackers were young South Asian men speaking Hindi or Urdu. Television footage showed gunmen in a pickup truck spraying people with rifle fire as the vehicle drove down a Mumbai street.
Japan’s foreign ministry said at least one Japanese national had been killed and one injured in the attacks, while South Korea said 26 of its nationals had escaped unharmed. Australia said two of its nationals had been injured but the toll could rise.
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Bush, other world leaders condemn attacks
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MUMBAI (Reuters) — World leaders condemned overnight attacks by gunmen in India’s commercial hub Mumbai in which at least 101 people were killed and 287 wounded.
“President Bush offers his condolences to the Indian people and the families of the innocent civilians killed and injured in the attacks in Mumbai,” the White House said.
“President-elect Obama strongly condemns today’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai,” said a statement by Brooke Anderson, Obama’s spokeswoman on national security.
“Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, while strongly condemning the incidents of violence in Mumbai, expressed deep sorrow over the loss of precious lives,” the Pakistani government said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brownsaid, “I have sent a message to Prime Minister Singh that the UK stands solidly with his government as they respond, and to offer all necessary help. Urgent action is underway to offer every possible protection to British citizens in the region.”
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said, “This cowardly attack on India’s stability, peace, and democracy reminds us all that international terrorism is far from defeated, and that we must all maintain our vigilance.”
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said through an interpreter, “We are concerned about the loss of life and consider that acts of terrorism of this type are harmful to the whole international order and are a challenge to humanity.”
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