Scores killed in Mumbai rampage

[DanielParul 50]

(CNN) -- In a brazen series of coordinated attacks, gunmen struck 10 sites Wednesday night across India's financial hub, killing scores of people and taking hostages in two luxury hotels frequented by Westerners, officials said.

Mumbai police spokesman Satish Katsa put the death toll at 87 and another 185 wounded, with nine of the attackers killed.

More than six hours after the attacks, fighting was still reported in the Taj Mahal Hotel, the Hotel Oberoi and Colaba Market, site of a number of restaurants, he said.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief minister of Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located, told reporters that a total of 10 locations were attacked, including a railroad station.

A Mumbai police spokesman, Satish Katsa, said gunmen took over the Taj Mahal Hotel and Hotel Oberoi, and were holding guests hostage on multiple floors. iReport.com: Are you there?

After the attacks, about 100 members of the Rapid Action Force entered the Oberoi. Shortly thereafter, the sound of gunshots came from inside the building.

British businessman Alan Jones told CNN.com how he was about to get out of an elevator in the Oberoi when another guest was shot.

"A bullet hit one of the Japanese men in the back of the leg. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere."

Another hostage situation was occurring at Cama Hospital for women and children, CNN sister station CNN-IBN reported.

Bhushan Gagrani, a spokesman for Maharashtra, said no one had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

But several Indian news outlets reported receiving e-mails from a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen that took responsibility for the attacks. CNN was not able to verify the reports.

Gagrani said nine suspects were arrested and three people were detained for questioning.

CNN-IBN reported that Hemant Karkare, chief of Mumbai police's anti-terrorism squad, was among the fatalities at the Hotel Oberoi.

In addition, 11 other police were killed, Deshmukh said. He said the number of attackers was not known.

About five hours after the attack, smoke began billowing from the roof of the Taj Mahal and flames quickly spread through the top floors of the 105-year-old building, though firefighters said they expected to be able to douse the blaze. Guests -- many of them foreign nationals -- emerged from the hotel. Watch the Taj hotel 'under siege' »

The landmark hotel advertises 565 rooms, including 46 suites. Gunfire could be heard coming from inside the building and at least 50 guests were rescued from the hotel.

Andrew Stevens, a CNN anchor who was staying at the Taj Mahal with a CNN crew, estimated that about half the hotel's guests were Westerners.

He said that at shortly after 10 p.m. (4:30 p.m. GMT) he was outside the Oberoi, about five minutes away from the Taj, when he saw guests streaming from the lobby into the street in apparent panic. Watch hotel guests talk about fleeing the hotel »

A witness told local television that he was in the Oberoi around 10 p.m. when gunmen entered the lobby and began rounding up guests, asking for anyone with a U.S. or British passport and taking hostage about 15 of them.

The Cafe Leopold, another popular hangout for Western tourists, was also targeted, and one police official said an attack occurred at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station.

The attacks included five shootouts and two grenade attacks, said another police spokesman, who answered Mumbai's police control room line.

CNN-IBN reported the attacks began about 10 p.m. Wednesday and witnesses were reporting new explosions and gunfire into early Thursday morning. Watch gunmen open fire from a police van »

Roy said the gunmen used grenades and automatic weapons. He could not provide casualty numbers.

India has suffered a number of attacks in recent years, including a string of bombs that ripped through packed Mumbai commuter trains and platforms during rush hour in July 2006. About 209 people were killed in that attack. See a timeline of attacks in India this year »

Last July, a series of synchronized bomb blasts in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad left 49 dead and more than 100 wounded, police said.

But Paresh Parihar, a businessman in Mumbai, described Wednesday's attacks as unlike anything he had seen.

"They really don't fear for their lives or any other activity that could put them in danger," he told CNN. "This is really a very unusual situation."

Mumbai ordered schools to be closed Thursday

Edited November 27, 2008 by DanielParul

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