MUMBAI, INDIA—They showed up on Wednesday, as they do every night: Businessmen for meetings in the elegant restaurant that overlooks the harbor, politicians for cocktails in a bar with velvet seats and wood and marble floors, friends for a steak dinner by the pool.
But then the shooting started.
Explosions followed in and around the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower—a Mumbai landmark with sweeping staircases, onyx columns and high alabaster ceilings, known as the playground of the city’s elite since it opened in 1903.
More than 125 people have been killed in coordinated attacks by Islamic militants in Mumbai and the toll could rise further, a senior police official said late Thursday.
"Over 125 people have died from the hostage crisis," Hassan Gafoor, Mumbai's police chief told Agence France-Presse.
"The situation is very fluid and the toll could rise further," he added.
The attacks began on Wednesday evening when teams of gunmen in black shirts and jeans arrived by boats.
Television footage showed gunmen in a pick-up truck spraying people with rifle fire and throwing grenades as the vehicle drove down a Mumbai street.
‘External linkages’
They stormed the Taj and the nearby Oberoi Hotel, the popular Cafe Leopold, hospitals, a Jewish center, a crowded train station and at least five other sites.
At press time, huge flames were seen shooting from an upper floor of the Oberoi, as commandos battled gunmen inside.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said in an address to the nation that the attacks were well planned and probably had “external linkages.” He said the gunmen “intended to create a sense of terror by choosing high-profile targets.”
He said that New Delhi would “take up strongly” the use of neighbors’ territory to launch attacks on India. Indian governments have in the past blamed neighboring Pakistan or sometimes Bangladesh for supporting or harboring militant groups for these attacks.
Police said they had shot dead four gunmen and arrested nine suspects. They said 12 policemen were killed, including Hemant Karkare, the chief of the police antiterrorist squad in Mumbai.
People trapped at Taj
Some 17 hours after the late-evening assault, soldiers and militants were still exchanging intermittent fire and more than 100 people were trapped inside rooms of the Taj.
“People who were held up there, they have all been rescued,” Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy told the NDTV news channel. “But there are guests in the rooms, we don’t know how many.”
Roy said some people were still apparently being held hostage at the Oberoi. “That is why the operation is being conducted more sensitively to ensure there are no casualties of innocent people.”
Attackers most likely Indians
Police said at least six foreigners were among those killed in the attacks, which were claimed by the little-known Deccan Mujahideen group. Witnesses said the attackers were young South Asian men in their early 20s, most likely Indians, speaking Hindi or Urdu.
“Release all the mujahideens, and Muslims living in India should not be troubled,” a militant inside the Oberoi, spoke to Indian television by telephone.
The man, who identified himself only as Sahadullah, said he was one of seven attackers inside the hotel and wanted Islamist militants to be freed from Indian jails.
Later, an explosion was heard at the hotel, a witness said.
At least two guests, trapped in their rooms in the Taj, also phoned TV stations. One said the fire doors were locked, and another said he had seen two dead bodies by the swimming pool.
“Two of my colleagues are still in there and the last we heard from them was three hours ago and then the phone battery died,” said a German national who escaped the Taj.
‘Gunshots following us’
Dalbir Bains, who runs a lingerie shop in Mumbai, had just sat down for dinner by the pool at the Taj when she heard the first shots. She ran upstairs and huddled under a table in the Sea Lounge restaurant.
She, and about 50 others who were with her, tried to remain as quiet as possible.
“The gunshots were following us,” said Bains.
It wasn’t until 4 a.m., more than six hours after the first shots rang out, that authorities began escorting people out of the hotel.
That’s when Bains climbed down a fire ladder to safety.
A handful of people sneaked out earlier, including a group guided by security personnel who happened to be dining at the hotel. They shuffled five at a time down more than 20 flights of stairs. Many took their shoes off to minimize the noise.
The spiraling stairway was narrow and steep, and it was so hot they had to stop three times on the half-hour journey, said Manrico Iachia, the Italian executive vice president of Europ Assistance, an insurance firm.
Two men carried a woman in a wheelchair down, he said.
15 foreigners held hostage
Others were not so lucky. The gunmen are still believed to be holed up inside, holding as many as 15 foreigners hostage, said Anees Ahmed, a top state official.
From outside the hotel, people could be seen silhouetted in the windows of their hotel rooms, apparently unable to get past a fire that smoldered for hours and then erupted into flames shortly after 3 a.m.
Some raised their fists vainly against the glass; others flicked their lights on and off in distress. One man banged a large lamp against the window. A couple took turns waving a white flag.
Witnesses said about 200 people—hotel staff, diners at the Souk restaurant, and people attending an India-Korea business conference—hid together for five hours in a conference room at the top of the adjacent Taj Tower.
They drew the curtains and crouched under tables. Hotel staff passed around glasses of water.
Women were forced to urinate in ice buckets and men relieved themselves in the kitchen.
Police have not said how many died at the Taj, but at least one Japanese man is known to have been killed there, according to Bombay Hospital. The hospital said nine Europeans from the hotel were admitted, three of them in critical condition with gunshot wounds.
Attacks to spook investors
The attacks were bound to spook investors in one of Asia’s largest and fastest-growing economies.
Mumbai has seen several major bomb attacks in the past, but never anything so obviously targeted at foreigners.
Authorities closed stock, bond and foreign exchange markets, and the central bank said it would continue auctions to keep cash flowing through interbank lending markets, which seized up after the global financial crisis.
“There could be 100-200 people inside the (Oberoi) hotel, but we cannot give you the exact figure as many people have locked themselves inside their rooms,” Maharashtra state deputy chief minister R.R. Patil told reporters.
“There could be 10-12 terrorists inside the hotel,” he said. “There are no negotiations with the terrorists.”
Targets: British, Americans
The attackers appeared to target British and Americans as they sought hostages. Israelis were also among the hostages, a television channel reported, while police said an Israeli rabbi was also being held by gunmen in a Mumbai apartment.
Strategic expert Uday Bhaskar said the attacks could inflame tensions between Hindus and Muslims.
“The fact that they were trying to segregate British and American passport holders definitely suggests Islamist fervor,” Bhaskar said.
Gunmen in 3 buildings
The gunmen appeared to be holed up nearly 18 hours later on Thursday inside the Taj, Oberoi and Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch. They were holding foreign and local hostages, as Indian commandos surrounded the buildings.
Among those held captive were Americans, British, Italians, Swedes, Canadians, Yemenis, New Zealanders and a Singaporean.
“We’re going to catch them dead or alive,” Maharashtra Home Minister R. R. Patil told reporters. “An attack on Mumbai is an attack on the rest of the country.”
Mumbai, on the western coast of India overlooking the Arabian Sea, is home to splendid Victorian architecture built during the British raj and is one of the most populated cities in the world with some 18 million crammed into shantytowns, high rises and crumbling mansions.
Schools were closed and a curfew was imposed around the Gateway of India, a colonial-era monument. But train services were running as normal taking people to work in the stunned city.
Among the other places attacked was the 19th century Chhatrapati Shivaji railroad station—a beautiful example of Victorian Gothic architecture—where gunmen sprayed bullets into the crowded terminal, leaving the floor splattered with blood.
Other gunmen attacked Cafe Leopold, a landmark popular with foreigners, and the police headquarters in southern Mumbai, the area where most of the attacks took place. Gunmen also assaulted Cama and Albless Hospital and G.T. Hospital, though it was not immediately clear if anyone was killed.
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. Reports from AP, AFP and Reuters
