Up to 100 killed, foreigners taken hostage in Mumbai attacks

Up to 100 people have been killed in a series of coordinated attacks across India's commercial capital Mumbai, as gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenades hit two luxury hotels and took foreign guests hostage.

A group calling itself the "Deccan Mujahedeen" claimed responsibility for the late night assaults on the Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels, as well as eight other locations, including the main train station, a hospital and an up-market restaurant.

The focus of the attacks, which began around 10:30pm (1700 GMT), was the two five-star hotels, with gunmen taking an unknown number of foreign guests hostage and exchanging fire with anti-terrorist commando units.

The head of Mumbai's Anti-Terrorism Squad, Hemant Karkare, was one of 11 security personnel killed in one of the shootouts.

Naval commandos stormed the Taj 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 and huge plumes of smoke billowed out from its distinctive red dome. It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze.

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 at 6:00am.

Fire engines were brought in to rescue trapped guests from their windows, while others remained boarded up in their rooms.

"We have one man who has a bullet wound in his stomach," one woman told a TV channel by phone from a room where she was hunkered down with around 35 other guests.

The woman said the security forces had been in contact with her group during the night.

"They've been telling us to stay quiet and lay low," she said. "I think they're waiting for light to break."

There was also a standoff at the Oberoi Trident hotel, where at least two gunmen were believed to be holding out.

Earlier, several men armed with AK-47 rifles had stormed into the passenger hall of Mumbai's main Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station and opened fire and thrown 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 southeast of the city.

One British guest at the Taj said he had been among a dozen people herded together by two heavily armed men and taken up to the hotel's upper floors.

"They were very young, like boys really, wearing jeans and T-shirts," the guest said.

"They said they wanted anyone with British and American passports and then they took us up the stairs. I think they wanted to take us to the roof," he said, adding that he and another hostage managed to escape on the 18th floor.

A Singaporean has also been taken hostage with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating: "The terrorists are holding several people of different nationalities as hostages. One Singaporean has been held hostage."

News of the hostage-taking comes as President-elect Barack Obama condemned the Mumbai attacks and said the United States must work to strengthen ties with India and other nations to "root out and destroy terrorist networks."

"These coordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave and urgent threat of terrorism," Obama's chief national security spokesperson, Brooke Anderson, said in a statement.

The attacks on India's financial capital have prompted the closure of the city's stocks and commodity exchanges, a spokesman said.

"Considering the prevailing abnormal situation and the government's advice" for people to remain indoors, "it has been decided to keep the markets closed for the day," a spokesman for the Mumbai stock exchange said.

The Taj, opposite the British colonial era Gateway of India, is one of the world's leading hotels.

The head of the Madrid government and a British member of the European Parliament were inside when the gunmen stormed the building but escaped unhurt.

"All I saw was one man on foot carrying a machine gun-type of weapon -- which I then saw him firing from and I saw people hitting the floor, people right next to me," MEP Sajjad Karim was quoted as saying by the BBC website.

One Japanese was among the dead, the foreign ministry in Tokyo said, while at least two Australians were injured.

The United States and Britain led global condemnation, with Washington describing the attacks as "horrific", and US president-elect Barack Obama pledging to work with India to "root out and destroy terrorist networks".

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the "outrageous" attacks would be met with a "vigorous response", and the European Union expressed its "horror and indignation."

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.

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