ID :
32671
Thu, 11/27/2008 - 22:18
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/32671
The shortlink copeid
Westerners `targeted` in Mumbai attacks
Westerners are being held hostage in Mumbai and parts of the city remain under siege after a deadly series of grenade and shooting attacks killed at least 100 people.
At least two foreign nationals, from Japan and Australia, have been confirmed among the dead, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on Thursday.
PTI, quoting hospital sources, identified the two dead as a 41-year-old Japanese man and a 49-year-old Australian. It said the wounded foreigners were from Australia, the United States, Spain, Norway, Canada and Singapore. It also said seven British citizens were wounded.
The NDTV news channel said up to nine foreigners were among the dead.
Officials say a total of at least 100 people were killed and hundreds more wounded
in the gun and grenade attacks by Islamic militants across India's financial capital
that began late on Wednesday.
Survivors say the attacks in India's financial capital were aimed at Westerners and
authorities say an unknown number of foreigners are being held by the terrorists.
Teams of attackers stormed into two luxury hotels, a restaurant and the main
Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station overnight, killing at least 100 people and
wounding about 100 others with grenades and automatic weapons.
A group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for the attacks
late on Wednesday on the luxury Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels.
Eight other locations across Mumbai, including the train station, a hospital and an
up-market restaurant were hit.
One of the gunmen, who is holed up in the Oberoi Trident, told a television station
the previously unknown Deccan Mujahedeen was an Indian Islamist group seeking an end
to the persecution of Indian Muslims.
Senior police official AN Roy said about 100 people were killed in precisely-timed
assaults by small groups of gunmen who lobbed grenades into crowds and opened fire
with AK-47s on people as they fled on Wednesday night.
The number of injured is unclear and has been put at least 100, and up to almost
300. They include two Australians who were shot as they dined at the popular Cafe
Leopold in the heart of Mumbai, hours after they arrived in the city.
Sydney woman Kate Anstee, 24, has undergone surgery and is in intensive care after
she was shot through the leg. Her boyfriend David Coker, 23, from Townsville, has
flesh wounds from bullets that grazed his legs.
Mr Coker said the attackers "looked just like boys".
"They are on a rampage - it's full-on," he told Australian media.
Witnesses said the gunmen had specifically chosen US and British citizens to take
hostage.
Gunmen who burst into the Taj Mahal "were targeting foreigners. They kept shouting
'Who has US or UK passports?"' said Ashok Patel, a British citizen who fled from the
hotel.
A Briton who was dining at the Oberoi hotel also said the gunmen singled out Britons
and Americans.
"They were talking about British and Americans specifically," Alex Chamberlain told
Sky News.
He said he feared he would be shot if they detected his accent, but managed to
escape as some patrons were forced to walk up a flight of stairs. He believed many
in the group were still being held hostage.
Frequent bursts gunfire in and around the two five-star hotels continued to be heard
on Thursday morning.
The head of Mumbai's Anti-Terrorism Squad, Hemant Karkare, was one of at least 11
security personnel killed in the shootouts.
Another siege was in progress at Nariman House, an office building that houses a
Jewish centre. The chairman of the Indian Jewish Federation, Jonathan Solomon, said
a rabbi and his family was being held inside by gunmen.
Army commandos stormed the Taj hotel in the early hours of Thursday morning,
apparently leading to the release of some guests inside, with television footage
showing people being shepherded
out of the building.
Shortly afterwards, the upper floors of the landmark hotel became engulfed in
flames. Fire engines were brought in to rescue trapped guests.
Police said two gunmen were shot dead, but two more were still believed to be holed
up inside the hotel. Explosions and gunfire were still being heard as Thursday wore
on.
"We have one man who has a bullet wound in his stomach," one woman told a TV channel
by phone from a room at the Taj Mahal where she was hunkered down with around 35
other guests.
The stand-off was also continuing at the Oberoi Trident hotel, where at least two
gunmen were believed to be holding out with around half-a-dozen hostages.
Earlier, several men armed with AK-47 rifles had stormed into the passenger hall of
Mumbai's main Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, firing indiscriminately and
throwing grenades.
Firing was also reported at Cama Hospital in south Mumbai, and three people were
reported killed in what police called a "bomb blast" in a taxi in the south-east of
the city.
Other Australians have also been caught up in the attacks.
A 12-member NSW government trade mission had been staying at the Oberoi Trident
Hotel. One of the delegates, Garrick Harvison, an export manager for winery Yarraman
Estate, is holed up in his hotel room waiting to be rescued. Another unnamed
delegate remains unaccounted for.
And Australian actress Brooke Satchwell has told how she hid inside a tiny bathroom
cupboard for about an hour to escape gunfire at the Taj Mahal.
"It was really terrifying," she told Network Ten. "There was people getting shot in
the corridor. There was someone dead outside the bathroom."
Australian man Steve Smith said he saw two gunmen toss grenades into a restaurant at
the Taj Mahal where he was having a beer just hours earlier.
"Then they opened fire for about 10 minutes with AK-47s (semi-automatic assault
rifles)," Mr Smith told the Seven Network.
"I wedged the door down the bottom with a table and then went straight upstairs
until the police came."
The attacks have sparked a chorus of global condemnation.
India's President Pratibha Patil said the attacks were carried out by people "with
no regard for human life".
"I condemn in the strongest form the violent attacks in Mumbai," she said during an
official visit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
"It's indiscriminate, it's a terrorist act, it's an assault on democracy and it
takes as victims and casualties, innocent people," Australia's Acting Foreign
Minister Simon Crean said in Canberra.
The United States called the attacks "horrific" and US President-elect Barack Obama
pledged to work with India to "root out and destroy terrorist networks".
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he had sent Indian premier Manmohan Singh a
message assuring that "the UK stands solidly with his government as they respond,
and to offer all necessary help".
"These outrageous attacks in Mumbai will be met with a vigorous response," he said.
The French presidency of the European Union said it had reacted to the attacks "with
horror and indignation" and "condemns them in the strongest possible terms".
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said such violence was "totally unacceptable".
India has witnessed a wave of coordinated attacks in recent months.
A little-known Islamic group, the Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahedeen, claimed
responsibility for serial blasts last month in India's northeast state of Assam that
claimed nearly 80 lives.
Six weeks earlier, the capital New Delhi had been hit by a series of bombs in
crowded markets that left more than 20 dead. Those blasts were claimed by a group
calling itself the Indian Mujahedeen.
At least two foreign nationals, from Japan and Australia, have been confirmed among the dead, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on Thursday.
PTI, quoting hospital sources, identified the two dead as a 41-year-old Japanese man and a 49-year-old Australian. It said the wounded foreigners were from Australia, the United States, Spain, Norway, Canada and Singapore. It also said seven British citizens were wounded.
The NDTV news channel said up to nine foreigners were among the dead.
Officials say a total of at least 100 people were killed and hundreds more wounded
in the gun and grenade attacks by Islamic militants across India's financial capital
that began late on Wednesday.
Survivors say the attacks in India's financial capital were aimed at Westerners and
authorities say an unknown number of foreigners are being held by the terrorists.
Teams of attackers stormed into two luxury hotels, a restaurant and the main
Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station overnight, killing at least 100 people and
wounding about 100 others with grenades and automatic weapons.
A group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for the attacks
late on Wednesday on the luxury Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels.
Eight other locations across Mumbai, including the train station, a hospital and an
up-market restaurant were hit.
One of the gunmen, who is holed up in the Oberoi Trident, told a television station
the previously unknown Deccan Mujahedeen was an Indian Islamist group seeking an end
to the persecution of Indian Muslims.
Senior police official AN Roy said about 100 people were killed in precisely-timed
assaults by small groups of gunmen who lobbed grenades into crowds and opened fire
with AK-47s on people as they fled on Wednesday night.
The number of injured is unclear and has been put at least 100, and up to almost
300. They include two Australians who were shot as they dined at the popular Cafe
Leopold in the heart of Mumbai, hours after they arrived in the city.
Sydney woman Kate Anstee, 24, has undergone surgery and is in intensive care after
she was shot through the leg. Her boyfriend David Coker, 23, from Townsville, has
flesh wounds from bullets that grazed his legs.
Mr Coker said the attackers "looked just like boys".
"They are on a rampage - it's full-on," he told Australian media.
Witnesses said the gunmen had specifically chosen US and British citizens to take
hostage.
Gunmen who burst into the Taj Mahal "were targeting foreigners. They kept shouting
'Who has US or UK passports?"' said Ashok Patel, a British citizen who fled from the
hotel.
A Briton who was dining at the Oberoi hotel also said the gunmen singled out Britons
and Americans.
"They were talking about British and Americans specifically," Alex Chamberlain told
Sky News.
He said he feared he would be shot if they detected his accent, but managed to
escape as some patrons were forced to walk up a flight of stairs. He believed many
in the group were still being held hostage.
Frequent bursts gunfire in and around the two five-star hotels continued to be heard
on Thursday morning.
The head of Mumbai's Anti-Terrorism Squad, Hemant Karkare, was one of at least 11
security personnel killed in the shootouts.
Another siege was in progress at Nariman House, an office building that houses a
Jewish centre. The chairman of the Indian Jewish Federation, Jonathan Solomon, said
a rabbi and his family was being held inside by gunmen.
Army commandos stormed the Taj hotel in the early hours of Thursday morning,
apparently leading to the release of some guests inside, with television footage
showing people being shepherded
out of the building.
Shortly afterwards, the upper floors of the landmark hotel became engulfed in
flames. Fire engines were brought in to rescue trapped guests.
Police said two gunmen were shot dead, but two more were still believed to be holed
up inside the hotel. Explosions and gunfire were still being heard as Thursday wore
on.
"We have one man who has a bullet wound in his stomach," one woman told a TV channel
by phone from a room at the Taj Mahal where she was hunkered down with around 35
other guests.
The stand-off was also continuing at the Oberoi Trident hotel, where at least two
gunmen were believed to be holding out with around half-a-dozen hostages.
Earlier, several men armed with AK-47 rifles had stormed into the passenger hall of
Mumbai's main Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, firing indiscriminately and
throwing grenades.
Firing was also reported at Cama Hospital in south Mumbai, and three people were
reported killed in what police called a "bomb blast" in a taxi in the south-east of
the city.
Other Australians have also been caught up in the attacks.
A 12-member NSW government trade mission had been staying at the Oberoi Trident
Hotel. One of the delegates, Garrick Harvison, an export manager for winery Yarraman
Estate, is holed up in his hotel room waiting to be rescued. Another unnamed
delegate remains unaccounted for.
And Australian actress Brooke Satchwell has told how she hid inside a tiny bathroom
cupboard for about an hour to escape gunfire at the Taj Mahal.
"It was really terrifying," she told Network Ten. "There was people getting shot in
the corridor. There was someone dead outside the bathroom."
Australian man Steve Smith said he saw two gunmen toss grenades into a restaurant at
the Taj Mahal where he was having a beer just hours earlier.
"Then they opened fire for about 10 minutes with AK-47s (semi-automatic assault
rifles)," Mr Smith told the Seven Network.
"I wedged the door down the bottom with a table and then went straight upstairs
until the police came."
The attacks have sparked a chorus of global condemnation.
India's President Pratibha Patil said the attacks were carried out by people "with
no regard for human life".
"I condemn in the strongest form the violent attacks in Mumbai," she said during an
official visit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
"It's indiscriminate, it's a terrorist act, it's an assault on democracy and it
takes as victims and casualties, innocent people," Australia's Acting Foreign
Minister Simon Crean said in Canberra.
The United States called the attacks "horrific" and US President-elect Barack Obama
pledged to work with India to "root out and destroy terrorist networks".
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he had sent Indian premier Manmohan Singh a
message assuring that "the UK stands solidly with his government as they respond,
and to offer all necessary help".
"These outrageous attacks in Mumbai will be met with a vigorous response," he said.
The French presidency of the European Union said it had reacted to the attacks "with
horror and indignation" and "condemns them in the strongest possible terms".
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said such violence was "totally unacceptable".
India has witnessed a wave of coordinated attacks in recent months.
A little-known Islamic group, the Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahedeen, claimed
responsibility for serial blasts last month in India's northeast state of Assam that
claimed nearly 80 lives.
Six weeks earlier, the capital New Delhi had been hit by a series of bombs in
crowded markets that left more than 20 dead. Those blasts were claimed by a group
calling itself the Indian Mujahedeen.
