Post by Papa C. on Nov 27, 2008 13:05:14 GMT
A group calling itself 'Deccan Mujahiddin' and claiming to be from Pakistan have launched attacks in 11 different areas of Mumbai, in India. They claim to be launching a Jihad against the west and are reported to be aged 20 - 25 yrs.
There are almost 120 dead and more than 300 injured so far and the siege is still going on. Top police officers and over 80 locals are among the dead. Some say tourists or westerners have been targeted.
Some gunmen escaped in a police vehicle and opened fire on innocent locals killing an injuring many. Authorities have imposed a curfew in the city.
The siege continues.
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From BBC news (events as they happen)
1245 Ratan Tata, owner of the Taj Hotel chain and chairman of the Tata Group, has told local television that his employees "feel rather helpless. "We are out of the property. Our staff have been very courageous. They have done all they can to help the guests," he says. "This is a very, very unfortunate situation, which we are not going to forget. And I hope the authorities don't forget it either."
1240 UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown says his government is doing "everything in its power" to help British citizens caught up in the violence. "We are sending police emergency teams that are well versed in dealing with terrorism," he says. "We are determined to maintain contact with those people up in the hotels. We will be able to keep people in touch during the day."
1235 UK opposition leader David Cameron expresses his horror at the Mumbai attacks. "Our sympathy must be with the victims, yes of course, but also our support for the Indian government at this time," he says. "[The attackers] want to separate countries like Britain and India and we should be saying our trade, our tourism, everything we do together, our relationship together, will get stronger."
1229 India's Times Now television channel is reporting another round of gunfire at the Oberoi Trident Hotel. It says one militant has been arrested at at the hotel, where 40 people are still being held hostage.
1225 An gunman holed up in Nariman House has asked the Indian government to talk and offered to release hostages, according to the Reuters news agency. He has phoned an Indian TV station to say he acted in response to the killing of Muslims by Indian troops in Kashmir.
1219 The AFP news agency quotes the German foreign ministry as confirming that one German national has been killed and several injured in the attacks.
e-mail sent in by reader
1218 Bobby Sinha, a tattooist who works close to Nariman House, where several Israelis are reportedly being held hostage by gunmen, says: I'm just near the Nariman building and commandos have just started firing. I'm still at work we couldn't leave last night. Right now a lot of crowds are moving away because the army has started shooting. I can see hundreds of army and police people.
1215 Television cameras have captured shots of people escaping from the Taj Mahal Palace hotel by climbing down drainpipes.
Mark Dummet
1213 BBC Correspondent Mark Dummet says: The explosions in the last 90 minutes at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel could signal a change in tactics by security forces. It's clear there's still a major confrontation going on here between the security forces who have surrounded these buildings and the handful of gunmen still holding out inside. Every so often another ambulance roars away from here. We don't know who's inside.
1205 The owners of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel say they are "monitoring the development of the unfortunate situation unfolding... and are fully co-operating with the police and the government authorities who are working towards the safety and security of all our guests and staff". "We will rebuild every inch that has been damaged in this attack and bring back the Taj to its full glory," they add.
1203 India's NDTV is reporting that regular gunfire can be heard at the Trident Oberoi Hotel.
1201 Alpesh Patel, a businessman who works for the UK government advising firms on Anglo-Indian trade, says that "life will go on" in the business world despite the attacks. "Business cannot afford to ignore what's one of the fastest-growing economies in the world," he tells BBC World News.
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1200 Mark Coutts-Smith, who was staying at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, says: I got out immediately after the first attack in the lobby. I stood in the front of the hotel and watch the whole thing for over 12 hours. I saw the whole thing and avoided some of the drama.
I just missed it through some fluke. I came into the lobby after the gunmen had passed through it. They first went into Taj Palace lobby. I was completely unaware of that for various reasons. I then entered the Taj Towers lobby to find it completely deserted. There was a strange smell. I had not heard the shooting. Then I saw some security people who came in grabbed me and frogmarched me and threw me into the plaza. Then we stood in the plaza and watched it right through.
1149 Ramesh Kallidai of the Hindu Forum of Britain says the Mumbai attacks will send a shudder of fear through Indian communities. "Every time there is a terror attack in India, there is a great concern here in Britain because we have emotional and family links," he tells the Reuters news agency.
1146 A fire is raging inside the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. The fire brigade has just gone into the building.
1145 Jason Burke, a Pakistan-based journalist and expert on Islamist militants, tells BBC World News that its "too early" to tell whether the attacks were carried out by a foreign group, as India's prime minister has said. "It's not uncommon after such attacks that the Indian government blames terrorists from Pakistan," he says. "Pakistan is likely to respond and we could see a very nasty diplomatic crisis coming out of this which is what the group behind the attacks wanted to provoke."
1139 Maharashtra state police chief AN Roy is quoted by the AFP news agency as saying: "We are in the final stages of operations. We are confident that we'll be able to counter the terrorists." Mr Roy did not say how many gunmen were still thought to be inside the two hotels. He said there were no hostages at the Taj Mahal Palace, but "still quite a few" at the Trident Oberoi.
1137 The president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, has spoken of the need for strong measures to eradicate terrorism and extremism following the Mumbai attacks. His Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, has meanwhile called for concerted efforts to make the region a peaceful place to live. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said the attacks showed that terrorists were trying to destabilise democracy by targeting an important centre of the Indian economy.
1135 The BBC's Rahul Tandon says: Mumbai is normally a bustling city, at the moment the streets are quiet. Offices and schools are shut. It is going to take some time for India's economic capital to return to normal.
1130 Local television pictures appear to show some hostages have been rescued from the Trident Oberoi hotel. Other hostages can be seen at the building's windows.
1125 Bangladesh's acting Foreign Minister, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, has "condemned in the strongest terms" the attacks in Mumbai. He says he has written to his Indian counterpart to tell him "these are acts of terrorism and terrorism serves no purpose".
Journalist outside the Taj Mahal hotel says security forces are securing the building 'floor by floor'
1120 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says that "existing laws will be tightened to ensure there are no loopholes available to terrorists to escape the clutches of the law". He also pledges to restrict the entry of suspects into the country and make sure "every perpetrator, organiser or supporter of terror pays the price" for the attacks. "We will tell our neighbours that their territory being used to carry out attacks in India will not be tolerated. I'm confident the people of India will rise united to face this challenge to the country's security and integrity," he concludes.
1114 There has been another massive explosion at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel - the second in about 15 minutes, reports say. Smoke can be seen billowing out of the building.
1113 Mr Singh says the attackers were "intent on creating a sense of panic by choosing high-profile targets" and praises the courage of police. "It is evident that the group which carried out the attacks is based outside the country, it came with the single-minded determination to carry out havoc in the financial capital of the country," he adds.
1110 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says in a televised address that his government will "take all necessary measures to look after the well-being of affected families".
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: "Whatever measures are necessary"
1108 Indian government asks for live Twitter updates from Mumbai to cease immediately. "ALL LIVE UPDATES - PLEASE STOP TWEETING about #Mumbai police and military operations," a tweet says.
1105 India's Times Now television channel reports that "the loudest possible explosion we've heard in the last 15 hours has come from the Taj hotel in the last few minutes". It says an ambulance has just arrived at the hotel's main entrance.
1103 Security forces have also surrounded Nariman House, a five-story residential building near the Trident Oberoi hotel that contains an office of the Jewish outreach group, Chabad Lubavitch. Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, the group's main representative, is thought to have been taken hostage. Reports say his wife and daughter have been freed. The Reuters news agency says that four gunmen remain in the building. There have been reports of gunfire.
1100 The Indian navy says its forces have boarded a cargo vessel they believe to be linked to the attacks, the Associated Press news agency reports. Navy spokesman Capt Manohar Nambiar says the MV Alpha had recently come to Mumbai from Karachi, Pakistan.
1057 Dr Robert Bradnock, an expert on South Asian politics at Kings College, London, tells the BBC the Indian government had already been under pressure for failing to cut the number of attacks in Mumbai before Wednesday. He says the government is trying to engage opposition politicians in a bid to create a consensus on how best to approach the problem. The ruling Congress party is facing a test as voting in four state elections get underway on Thursday.
1050 The Mumbai stock exchange and commodities exchange - India's main financial markets - have been closed for the day, and many offices are shut. Airlines say flights in and out of Mumbai are largely unaffected, but they are monitoring the situation.
1045 Middlesex captain Shaun Udal says it was a "sensible decision" to postpone the Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament. "I don't see any point carrying on with the tournament in such circumstances," he tells Sky Sports News.
1044 Mumbai resident Malini Agrewal tells BBC World News TV she had initially thought the explosions at the Trident Oberoi hotel, opposite where she lives, were "fireworks, perhaps a celebration to do with the cricket". "We had no idea what we were dealing with. Then there were two tremors. Flames started to erupt from the hotel," she says.
1040 The head of the governing Indian National Congress, Sonia Gandhi, has strongly condemned the attacks. "The dastardly terrorist attack in Mumbai is an act of cowardice and deserves the strongest condemnation," she tells reporters in Delhi. "I urge the people of Mumbai to remain calm and firm in these testing times. I'm confident that the resilience of the people of Mumbai shall remain undeterred."
1037 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to address the nation on television at 1630 local time (1100 GMT), the government says.
1029 Maj Gen RK Hooda, commander of the army in Maharashtra state, tells local TV channels that members of the National Security Guard are doing a room-by-room search of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. He says: "They started from the top floor and have come down to the 21st floor. There are 365 rooms to be searched... We don't know about the number of hostages. We know there are four to five terrorists."
1028 British MEP Sajjad Karim, who spent the night barricaded in the basement of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, tells BBC World News TV that guests had fled one gunmen at the hotel's entrance only to be confronted by another at the back. "He had quite a large machine gun in his hand and simply pointed it towards the crowd and started to use it. Pure instinct takes over. As soon as the first shots were fired, I saw a few people go down and I, along with everyone else, turned and fled," he says. Mr Karim says the streets of central Mumbai are now "incredibly quiet".
1025 The CNN-ibn television channel reports from one of Mumbai's railway stations that there are very few people out and about. One commuter said his train was virtually empty.
1015 Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang says that the Chinese government strongly condemns the attacks in Mumbai. "China always opposes terrorist attacks of any kind, and we express our condolences to the victims," he says.
1008 India's Times Now television channel reports a loud explosion outside the Oberoi hotel - the sixth in the last 35 minutes, it says.
Mark Dummet
1006 BBC Correspondent Mark Dummet says: Police seem to be taking a softly-softly approach, rather than charging in to the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. That explains why it has taken so long to get through the hotel and why they have not cleared every corner.
1004: Jake Betts, a British lawyer who lives and works close to the Oberoi Hotel tells BBC World that the large number of foreigners working in Mumbai feel targeted. "At the moment we're just sitting tight in our flat, trying to stay safe because we're very close to everything. But when this all is over... we're definitely going to have to re-appraise [our situation]," he says.
1000 The director-general of the UK's Federation of Tour Operators says the "handful" of British nationals who had booked a holiday in Mumbai through its members had been accounted for and were safe.
0958 The Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament has been postponed in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, organisers say.
0955 India's NDTV is broadcasting live pictures of commandos taking position outside the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. Gunshots can be heard.
0950 India's Times Now television channel reports that at least five explosions have been heard at the Oberoi hotel in quick succession in the past few minutes. It also says Indian navy helicopters, assisted by the coast guard, are chasing a trawler in the Arabian Sea that is believed to have transported the gunmen to Mumbai.
Mark Dummet
0943 BBC Correspondent Mark Dummet, speaking outside the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, says: There have been two further explosions at the hotel, followed by a round of gunfire. Clearly the situation remains uncertain and remains dangerous.
0936 Bachi Karkaria, of the Times of India, tells the BBC that Mumbai has been "terribly shaken" by the attacks. "No-one is safe and nothing can be taken for granted," she says.
0930 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd expresses concern about the attacks in Mumbai. He says: "We are deeply concerned by these developments, deeply concerned by the potential impact on Indian citizens and other citizens, and we will have further to say about this during the course of the day."
0924 Security expert Rahul Roy Chaudhury, from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, tells the BBC that it could be some time before the Taj Mahal Palace hotel is given the all-clear. He says: "The security services will have to go from room-to-room to make sure the hotel is entirely free of terrorists," adding the gunmen could try to slip out among Indian nationals who had been taken hostage.
Mark Dummet
0920 BBC Correspondent Mark Dummet, speaking outside the main entrance of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, says: I have seen armed soldiers leading out a dozen or so of the guests, one of the men being carried by a soldier to a series of ambulances which are lined up here. It would seem as if the siege here at the Taj Hotel is over
Eyewitness reaction and local TV footage from the scene
0915 Indian security forces have surrounded two of the top hotels in Mumbai, the Trident Oberoi and the Taj Mahal Palace, which were taken over by gunmen who launched co-ordinated attacks in the city late on Wednesday that have so far left 101 people dead and 287 injured. Hostages are reported to have been taken in both hotels, and commandos have been brought in to try to regain control of the buildings. Officials say another eight locations were attacked, but these have now been secured. Four attackers have been killed and nine arrested, they add.
A little-known group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen has said it carried out the attacks. The claim was made in a series of e-mails sent to news organisations. Mumbai city officials have recommended residents stay indoors and the country's leading stock exchange has been closed for the day.
