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Mumbai attacks leave at least 125 dead

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-28 07:17

MUMBAI – Indian commandos battled into the early hours of Friday to end a multiple hostage crisis in Mumbai after suspected Islamic militants killed 125 people across the city.

Officials said they had almost totally cleared the luxury Taj Mahal hotel where gunmen had been holed up for more than 24 hours after their rampage of gunfire and grenade blasts.

Indian security forces personnel escort released hostages from Nariman House in Mumbai. Indian commandos battled into the early hours of Friday to end a multiple hostage crisis in Mumbai after suspected Islamic militants killed 125 people across the city. [Agencies]

Thirty-nine people were rescued from the five-star Oberoi/Trident hotel, where "mopping up" operations were still underway, police said.

Security forces were also trying to secure an office-residential complex that houses a Jewish centre, where an uncertain number of Israelis were believed to be trapped or held hostage. Two explosions were heard at the site early Friday.

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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the militants had come from "outside the country."

The Press Trust of India said one Pakistani militant had been detained, although Pakistan's government fiercely denied any involvement.

More than 24 hours after the attacks began, military officials said special forces had successfully cleared the landmark Taj Mahal Palace hotel of all but one injured gunman.

"I think we should be able to mop up the operation very quickly," National Security Guards director general J.K. Dutt said.

At the Oberoi-Trident, an aide to Mumbai police commissioner A N Roy said commandos were still "engaged in mopping up operations and looking for other people who might be still in there."

"Around 39 people have been brought out, some of them are foreigners," he said. "We cannot yet say whether the hotel is... 100 percent clear of terrorists."

Scores of guests had been trapped in their rooms -- too terrified to move.

"We've been waiting for hours and hours for the army to come and say we can go downstairs," said a Western woman, contacted by AFP on her mobile phone late on Thursday, from inside the Oberoi/Trident.

"We have to keep silent. They could be looking for hostages," she said.

Indian media reports said between six and nine foreign nationals were among the dead in Mumbai -- including a Japanese businessman, an Australian, a Briton , a German and an Italian.

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