Terrorists attack several sites in Mumbai

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Terrorists entered Mumbai through Colaba shipyard

CNN-IBN correspondent Shoaib Ahmed was at the Colaba shipyard from where the terrorists arrived by boat on Wednesday night. He tells us that the locals questioned the passengers of the boat - who looked very suspicious - but the men refused to answer their questions and dispersed to various locations. They were carrying a red bag with them. They told locals that it was none of their business what they were here to do.

[NickD 202]

Terrorists attack several sites in Mumbai

Authorities say Westerners held hostage; at least 80 people killed

BREAKING NEWS

NBC News and news services

updated 2:04 p.m. CT, Wed., Nov. 26, 2008

MUMBAI, India - Terrorists armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked at least seven sites in Mumbai on Wednesday and were holding Western hostages at a hotel, authorities said. Police and Indian media reported at least 80 people were killed and 250 wounded.

The gunmen targeted luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, a police station, a crowded train station and other sites in India's financial capital in attacks that began late Wednesday and continued into Thursday, police and witnesses said.

"We have reports of 80 people dead and at least 250 injured. Many have serious injuries and the toll will go up," P.D. Ghadge, a police officer in the main control room in Mumbai, told Reuters.

A.N. Roy, a senior police officer, said police were continuing to battle the gunmen. "The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed, the encounters are still going on and we are trying to overpower them," he said.

Gunmen opened fire on two of the city's best-known Luxury hotels, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi, and some reports said they took hostages.

The attackers were holding an unknown number of Western hostages at the Taj, television reports said.

They also attacked a police station, the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station in southern Mumbai and Leopold's restaurant, a Mumbai landmark.

The motive was not immediately clear but Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terror attacks, including a series of blasts in July 2007 that killed 187 people.

Chaotic scene

"It was really scary. It was like the sound of loud crackers, not one but several, we just ran out of there," said Janice Sequeira, a tourist who had been at a restaurant in the Taj Mahal Hotel.

"The lobby of the Taj hotel is on fire," a police spokesman told Reuters. "We are trying to find out how many people are inside the hotel."

At the Oberoi, police officer P.I. Patil said shots had been fired inside and the hotel had been cordoned off. He would not give any other details.

Some of the injured were evacuated from the Taj on the hotel's golden luggage carts, while waiters in black and white formal wear and chefs were seen leaving the Oberoi.

The gunmen also attacked police headquarters in south Mumbai, the area where most of the attacks took place. "We are under fire, there is shooting at the gate," said constable A. Shetti by phone from police headquarters.

Leopold's, a restaurant popular with tourists, was riddled with bullet holes and there were blood stains on the floor and shoes left by fleeing customers, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

A Reuters reporter heard two explosions and then short bursts of automatic gunfire in the same street as the restaurant. The wreckage of a red scooter, the remains of shop awnings and broken glass were strewn across the street.

Armed police, rifles cocked at the hip, set up barricades around the explosion site, and local people were seen yelling at each other, angry that another terror attack had hit the city.

Vehicles and street vendors' barrows were used to keep locals away, and speeding military four-wheel drives with horns blaring arrived at the bomb site.

History of terrorist attacks

There were other attacks elsewhere.

The Press Trust of India quoted Mumbai General Railway Police Commissioner A.K. Sharma as saying that several men armed with rifles and grenades were holed up in the train station.

Sameeran Chakraborty, a Mumbai resident, told the NDTV news channel he heard a blast inside a car near the city airport.

"It was a big noise and one car was involved, definitely not more than that."

India has suffered a wave of bomb attacks in recent years. Most have been blamed on Islamist militants, although police have also arrested suspected Hindu extremists thought to be behind some of the attacks.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27928718/

Don't need anymore of this, with only two English speaking channels in Venezuela, CNN one of them, that is all they are talking about, is the USA still there? Should find out Saturday.

[Reba 2]

it's very very sad.

[spiderpig 2]

12:42 PM: Police say one terrorist holed up inside Nariman House has been killed. Six more terrorists are suspected to be hiding inside the building.

Any News on the number of American casualties or if they have been taken hostage?

I live abroad and these types of things make me VERY nervous GOD BLESS

[Nagishkaw 510]

Just horrible!

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I totally agree... the WSJ is right!

India's ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has done little to launch an effective fight against terrorism and may "pay a price for its incompetence" in the elections next year, the Wall Street Journal said in its lead editorial on Friday.

"A lack of political leadership is to blame," The Wall Street Journal said as India's financial capital continued to battle terrorists who had struck in 10 places in the city Wednesday.

...

"It (the ruling party) may pay a price for its incompetence at the national polls next year," the newspaper said.

"Yesterday Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised that 'every perpetrator would pay the price'. Yet his Congress Party has done little more than bicker with its coalition allies over the past five years on how best to fight terrorism," the journal said.

Observing that the attacks are a reminder that India is at the top of the terror target list, the newspaper said this is because India is an easy target.

Not only are its intelligence units understaffed and lack resources, coordination among State police forces is also poor. "The country's anti-terror legal architecture is also inadequate; there is no preventive detention law, and prosecutions can take years," it said.

"Wednesday's attacks should arouse Indians to better confront the terror threat, while reminding all democracies how dangerous that threat still is," it said.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

The usual savages. Send in Delta Force.

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Israel disses India

Israel has slammed the rescue efforts being undertaken by Indian security forces, to combat terrorists in Mumbai, terming them 'premature and badly planned'.

Israel had offered to help India to resolve the hostage situation in two luxury hotels and a building inhabited by Israelis, but their offer had been turned down, reports The Times.

Israel defence official believe that the security forces had failed to gather sufficient information about the situation before storming the three places under siege, states the report.

It added that the commandos, in their haste, had probably risked the lives of the hostages.

"In hostage situations, the first thing the forces are supposed to do is assemble at the scene and begin collecting intelligence. In this case, it appears that the forces showed up at the scene and immediately began exchanging fire with the terrorists instead of first taking control of the area," the paper quotes a former official in Shin Bet, the Israel Security Agency, as saying.

[Ban Hammer 12,874]

Israel disses India

Israel has slammed the rescue efforts being undertaken by Indian security forces, to combat terrorists in Mumbai, terming them 'premature and badly planned'.

Israel had offered to help India to resolve the hostage situation in two luxury hotels and a building inhabited by Israelis, but their offer had been turned down, reports The Times.

Israel defence official believe that the security forces had failed to gather sufficient information about the situation before storming the three places under siege, states the report.

It added that the commandos, in their haste, had probably risked the lives of the hostages.

"In hostage situations, the first thing the forces are supposed to do is assemble at the scene and begin collecting intelligence. In this case, it appears that the forces showed up at the scene and immediately began exchanging fire with the terrorists instead of first taking control of the area," the paper quotes a former official in Shin Bet, the Israel Security Agency, as saying.

israel is an expert with this sort of thing.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I'd rather have Israel commandos rescue me than Indian. A self evident truth.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Israel disses India

Israel has slammed the rescue efforts being undertaken by Indian security forces, to combat terrorists in Mumbai, terming them 'premature and badly planned'.

Israel had offered to help India to resolve the hostage situation in two luxury hotels and a building inhabited by Israelis, but their offer had been turned down, reports The Times.

Israel defence official believe that the security forces had failed to gather sufficient information about the situation before storming the three places under siege, states the report.

It added that the commandos, in their haste, had probably risked the lives of the hostages.

"In hostage situations, the first thing the forces are supposed to do is assemble at the scene and begin collecting intelligence. In this case, it appears that the forces showed up at the scene and immediately began exchanging fire with the terrorists instead of first taking control of the area," the paper quotes a former official in Shin Bet, the Israel Security Agency, as saying.

israel is an expert with this sort of thing.

Absolutely.

[Niels Bohr 72]

Untrained officials. But, they're doing their best. It could've been better.

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The Foreign Office earlier said it was investigating reports on NDTV, a local television news channel, that the terrorists - who swarmed luxury hotels and other tourist sites in the city - included "British citizens of Pakistani origin".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...mbay-India.html

[kaydee457 13]

Untrained officials. But, they're doing their best. It could've been better.

Wow. It's insane. I just hope Obama can do something about these kinds of things when he's president.

[PlatyPius 5]

Untrained officials. But, they're doing their best. It could've been better.

Wow. It's insane. I just hope Obama can do something about these kinds of things when he's president.

Pants.