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Parts of the city remained under siege as dawn approached
Thursday, with police and gunmen exchanging occasional gunfire at
two hotels and an unknown number of people still held hostage, said
A.N. Roy, a top police official. Soldiers also took up positions
across the city.


      A raging fire and explosions struck the landmark Taj Mahal hotel
shortly after midnight. Screams could be heard and black smoke
billowed from the century-old edifice on Mumbai's waterfront.
Firefighters sprayed water at the blaze and plucked people from
windows and balconies with extension ladders.


      The attackers specifically targeted Britons and Americans,
witnesses said. Officials said at least 200 people were wounded.


      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.


      State home secretary Bipin Shrimali said four suspects had been
killed in two incidents when they tried to flee in cars, and Roy
said two more gunmen were killed at the Taj Mahal. State Home
Minister R.R. Patil said nine more were captured. 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 the claim.


      Police reported hostages being held at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi
hotels, two of the best-known upscale destinations in this crowded
but wealthy city.


      Gunmen who burst into the Taj "were targeting foreigners. They
kept shouting: `Who has U.S. or U.K. passports?"' said Ashok
Patel, a British citizen who fled from the hotel.


      Authorities believed seven to 15 foreigners were hostages at the
Taj Mahal, but it was not immediately clear if hostages at the
Oberoi were Indians or foreigners, said Anees Ahmed, a top state
official. It was also unclear where the hostages were in the Taj
Mahal, which is divided into an older wing, which was in flames,
and a modern tower that was not on fire.


      State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said U.S.
officials were not aware of any American casualties, but were still
checking. He said he could not address reports that Westerners
might be among the hostages.


      "The United States condemns this terrorist attack and we will
continue to stand with the people of India in this time of
tragedy," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
"President Bush offers his condolences to the Indian people and
the families of the innocent civilians killed and injured in the
attacks."

      Johnny Joseph, chief secretary for Maharashtra state, of which
Mumbai is the capital, said 82 people had been killed and 120 had
been wounded.


      Officials at Bombay Hospital, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said a Japanese man had died there and nine Europeans
were admitted, three of them in critical condition with gunshot
wounds. All were brought in 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, said Roy, the
senior police official.


      Blood smeared the floor of the Chhatrapati Shivaji rail station,
where attackers sprayed bullets into the crowded terminal. Press
Trust of India quoted the chief of the Mumbai railway police, A.K.
Sharma, as saying several men armed with rifles and grenades were
holed up at the station.


      Other gunmen attacked Leopold's restaurant, a landmark popular
with foreigners, and the police headquarters in southern Mumbai,
the area where most of the attacks took place. The restaurant was
riddled with bullet holes and there were blood on the floor and
shoes left by fleeing customers.


      Officials also reported that terrorists attacked the city's Cama
and Albless Hospital and G.T. Hospital, but it was not immediately
clear if anyone was killed in those places.


      A British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi hotel told Sky
News television that the gunmen who struck there singled out
Britons and Americans.


      Alex Chamberlain said a gunman, a young man of 22 or 23, ushered
30 or 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and ordered
everyone to put up their hands. He said the gunman spoke in Hindi
or Urdu.

      "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 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.


      Early Thursday, several European lawmakers were among people who
barricaded themselves inside the Taj, a century-old seaside hotel
complex and one of the city's best-known destinations.


      "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 European Union-India
summit.


      As he turned to get away, "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, Karim remained holed up in a hotel restaurant,
unsure if it was safe to come out.


      The British Foreign Office said it was advising all British
citizens in Mumbai to stay indoors.


      Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, strongly condemned
the attacks. "Today's attacks in Mumbai which have claimed many
innocent victims remind us, yet again, of the threat we face from
violent extremists," Miliband said in a statement.


      India has been wracked by bomb attacks the past three years,
which police blame on Muslim militants intent on destabilizing this
largely Hindu country. Nearly 700 people have died.


      Since May a militant group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen
has taken credit for a string of blasts that killed more than 130
people. The most recent was in September, when a series of
explosions struck a park and crowded shopping areas in the capital,
New Delhi, killing 21 people and wounding about 100.


      Mumbai has been hit repeatedly by terror attacks since March
1993, when Muslim underworld figures tied to Pakistani militants
allegedly carried out a series of bombings on Mumbai's stock
exchange, trains, hotels and gas stations. Authorities say those
attacks, which killed 257 people and wounded more than 1,100, were
carried out to avenge the deaths of hundreds of Muslims in
religious riots that had swept India.


      Ten years later, in 2003, 52 people were killed in Mumbai
bombings blamed on Muslim militants and in 2006 a series of seven
blasts on railway trains and at commuter rail stations killed at
least 187.


      Relations between Hindus, who make up more than 80 percent of
India's 1 billion population, and Muslims, who make up about 14
percent, have sporadically erupted into bouts of sectarian violence
since British-ruled India was split into independent India and
Pakistan in 1947.
      

Gallery

Teams of gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a
popular restaurant, hospitals and a crowded train station in
coordinated attacks across India's financial capital Wednesday
night, killing at least 82 people and taking Westerners hostage,
police said. A group of suspected Muslim militants claimed
responsibility.

Indian policemen prepare to take position

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images

Indian policemen cordon off a shooting site

Death toll rises, hostages held in Mumbai attacks

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