Shootings, blasts rock Mumbai, 16 dead: reports

Up to 16 people were killed in a series of attacks in Mumbai late Wednesday, with police reporting firing incidents and explosions at different sites across India's financial capital.

The Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted police as saying that 10 people were killed and more than 30 people injured in gunfire at the main Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station.

Three staff were shot dead in a separate shooting incident at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel in nearby Colaba district, PTI said.

Another three people died in what they described as a "bomb blast" in a taxi in the southeast of the city.

Mumbai General Railway Police Commissioner A.K. Sharma was quoted as saying that several men armed with AK-47 rifles had stormed into the passenger hall of the railway station shortly after 10:30pm (1700 GMT) and opened fire and thrown grenades.

The lobby of another five-star hotel, the Oberoi, was on fire, witnesses said.

Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy told the NDTV channel that "unknown terrorists" had opened fire at "at least seven to eight places" across the city.

One television report put the death toll as high as 25.

"Some of these terrorists are still holed up inside the Taj hotel," Roy said. "No hostages have been taken but we are evacuating some of the guests."

India has witnessed a series 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.

A total of 12 explosions shook the insurgency-hit northeastern state, six of them ripping through crowded areas in the main city of Guwahati.

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.

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