Mumbai Terror Attack

[Atomsk]

Just got back from class and saw this on CNN, I was hoping somebody who knows more than me could offer some input.:

http:/www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27928718?GT1=43001

NBC News and news services
updated 25 minutes ago

MUMBAI, India - Terrorists armed with automatic weapons, bombs and grenades attacked at least seven sites in Mumbai on Wednesday and were holding Western hostages at two hotels, authorities said. Police and Indian media reported at least 80 people were killed and 250 wounded.

The gunmen targeted luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, a police station, a crowded train station and other sites in India's financial capital in attacks that began late Wednesday and continued into Thursday, police and witnesses said.

"We have reports of 80 people dead and at least 250 injured. Many have serious injuries and the toll will go up," P.D. Ghadge, a police officer in the main control room in Mumbai, told Reuters.


A.N. Roy, a senior police officer, said police were continuing to battle the gunmen. "The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed, the encounters are still going on and we are trying to overpower them," he said.

Local television said army troops had begun moving into one of the hotels, the Oberoi, containing hostages.

Trying to account for Americans
Among those killed in the attacks was Hemant Karkare, chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in Mumbai, Indian television reported.

The U.S. State Department said all U.S. diplomats in India were safe, but officials were still trying to account for any Americans who may have been staying in the hotels and other targeted areas.

"At this point, we are unaware of any American casualties," said State Department deputy spokesman Robert A. Wood.

Gunmen opened fire on two of the city's best-known Luxury hotels, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi.


The attackers were holding an unknown number of Western hostages at both locations, media reports said. NDTV reported gunmen asked for U.S. and U.K. passport holders to be pulled aside.

Assailants also attacked a police station, the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station in southern Mumbai and Leopold's restaurant, a Mumbai landmark.

An organization calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen sent an e-mail to news organizatrions claiming responsibility for the attacks. The motive was not immediately clear but Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terror attacks, including a series of blasts in July 2007 that killed 187 people.

Chaotic scene
"I guess they were after foreigners, because they were asking for British or American passports," said Rakesh Patel, a British witness who lives in Hong Kong and was staying at the Taj hotel on business. "They had bombs."

" They came from the restaurant and took us up the stairs," he told the NDTV news channel, smoke stains all over his face. "Young boys, maybe 20 years old, 25 years old. They had two guns."

"It was really scary. It was like the sound of loud crackers, not one but several, we just ran out of there," said Janice Sequeira, a tourist who had been at a restaurant in the Taj.

Attacks in Mumbai

"I was in the main lobby and there was all of a sudden a lot of firing outside," said Sajjad Karim, part of a delegation of European lawmakers visiting Mumbai ahead of a forthcoming EU-India summit. He turned to get away "and all of a sudden another gunmen appeared in front of us, carrying machine gun-type weapons. And he just started firing at us ... I just turned and ran in the opposite direction," he told The Associated Press over his mobile phone.

Hours later, he remained holed up in a hotel restaurant, unsure whether it was safe to come out.

A European official was among the wounded at the Taj.

"My hotel is surrounded by police and there are gunmen inside," European lawmaker Ignasi Guardans told Spanish radio from the Taj. "We are in contact with some deputies inside the hotel, with one in a room and another hidden in the kitchen. There's another official hurt and in hospital."

The lucky escaped quickly.

Arvind Kodekar was at a wedding reception at the Taj when an explosion rang out.
Americans, Britons singled out
"When we heard the sound of the blast everyone — the bride, the groom, everyone — just ran. We heard the sound of two blasts and we just ran," said Kodekar, who was wearing a black suit with a rose in the lapel, but whose trousers were frayed and bloody from where he had been cut by broken glass.

At the Oberoi, police officer P.I. Patil said shots had been fired inside and the hotel had been cordoned off. He would not give any other details.

Alex Chamberlain, a British restaurant-goer at the Oberoi, told Sky News television that the attackers singled out Britons and Americans. He said a gunman, who appeared to be in his early 20s, ushered 30 or 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and 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 — and thank God they didn't," he said.

Chamberlain said the gunman spoke in Hindi or Urdu. He managed to slip away, but said most of the group was still being kept hostage.

Some of the injured were evacuated from the Taj on the hotel's golden luggage carts, while waiters in black and white formal wear and chefs were seen leaving the Oberoi.

The gunmen also attacked police headquarters in south Mumbai, the area where most of the attacks took place. "We are under fire, there is shooting at the gate," said constable A. Shetti by phone from police headquarters.

Leopold's, a restaurant popular with tourists, was riddled with bullet holes and there were blood stains on the floor and shoes left by fleeing customers.

Sourav Mishra, a Reuters reporter, was with friends at the Cafe Leopold when gunmen opened fire Wednesday night. He received injuries and was taken to a local hospital.

"I heard some gunshots around 9:30. I was with my friends. Something hit me. I ran away and fell on the road. Then somebody picked me up. I have injuries below my shoulder," Mishra said from a hospital bed he was sharing with three other people.

The wreckage of a red scooter, the remains of shop awnings and broken glass were strewn across the street.

Armed police, rifles ready at the hip, set up barricades around the explosion site, and local people were seen yelling at each other, angry that another terror attack had hit the city.

Vehicles and street vendors' barrows were used to keep locals away, and military four-wheel-drives with horns blaring sped to the bomb site.


The Press Trust of India quoted Mumbai General Railway Police Commissioner A.K. Sharma as saying that several men armed with rifles and grenades were holed up in the train station.

Sameeran Chakraborty, a Mumbai resident, told the NDTV news channel he heard a blast inside a car near the city airport.

"It was a big noise and one car was involved, definitely not more than that."

India has suffered a wave of bomb attacks in recent years. Most have been blamed on Islamist militants, although police have also arrested suspected Hindu extremists thought to be behind some of the attacks.

(Apologies if this is out of place, or if it's already been posted)

[Puertoland]

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Its been posted in the early bird.