Teams of heavily armed gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant and a crowded train station in coordinated attacks across India's financial capital Wednesday night, killing at least 80 people and taking Westerners hostage, police said. Police said that the attacks began shortly after 10.30 P.M. at Chhatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST), formerly known as the Victoria Terminus (VT), where the gunmen claimed 10 lives. Mumbai General Railway Police Commissioner A K Sharma said that 30 persons were injured in the terminus incident. The authorities added that three persons were killed in a bomb explosion in a taxi on Mazegaon dockyard. An explosion rocked one of the hotels, the landmark Taj Mahal, early Thursday, followed by raging fires. Gunfire was heard for hours. Police said at least 250 people were wounded in the attacks. The attackers specifically targeted Britons and Americans, witnesses said. A little known organization calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen sent an email to news organizations claiming responsibility. Hemant Karkare, the chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in Mumbai, was killed during the attacks, police said. The incidents were concentrated in the swanky Colaba district near the southern tip of the city, India's commercial and financial capital. Mumbai police commissioner A.N. Roy said police continued to battle the gunmen near dawn. “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,” Roy said, according to the Associated Press. India's army has been requested to help out. One guest at the Taj said the first incident began at about 9:45 P.M. local time when flashing lights and bangs were visible and audible outside the hotel. Taxi drivers, who wait in droves in front of the hotel, roared off. About 10:20 P.M., there were two loud explosions right outside the hotel, the guest told the Guardian. “My instant reaction was, ‘It's a bomb,'” he said. A hotel representative later phoned, advising guests to remain in their rooms with the lights off and not to open the door until told by security that it was safe to do so. At 12:45 A.M. local time Thursday, another big blast was reported by a guest at the Taj. The army entered the Oberoi hotel and explosions were heard there. There was also a blast reported at the Trident Hotel adjoining the Oberoi, TV reports said. The Cafe Leopold, perhaps the most famous restaurant and hang-out for tourists in the city, was also hit. There were reports of blasts in Ville Parle and Santa Cruz in Mumbai's suburbs. Other incidents were reported at a cinema and a hospital. They kept shouting: `Who has US or UK passports?”' said Ashok Patel, a British citizen who fled from the Taj. “They had bombs,” said Rakesh Patel, a British witness who lives in Hong Kong and was staying at the Taj Mahal hotel on business. “They came from the restaurant and took us up the stairs,” he told the NDTV news channel, smoke stains all over his face. “Young boys, maybe 20 years old, 25 years old. They had two guns.” Authorities believed seven to 15 foreigners were prisoners at the Taj, but it was not immediately clear if hostages at the Oberoi were Indians or foreigners, said Anees Ahmed, a top state official. Blood smeared the floor of the Chhatrapati Shivaji rail station, where attackers sprayed bullets into the crowded terminal. Press Trust of India quoted the Early Thursday, several European lawmakers were among people who barricaded themselves inside the Taj, a century-old seaside hotel complex and one of the city's best-known destinations. “I was in the main lobby and there was all of a sudden a lot of firing outside,” said Sajjad Karim, part of a delegation of European lawmakers visiting Mumbai ahead of a European Union-India summit. As he turned to get away, “all of a sudden another gunmen appeared in front of us, carrying machine gun-type weapons. And he just started firing at us ... I just turned and ran in the opposite direction,” he told The Associated Press over his mobile phone. Hours later, Karim remained holed up in a hotel restaurant, unsure if it was safe to come out. A European official was among the wounded. “My hotel is surrounded by police and there are gunmen inside,” European lawmaker Ignasi Guardans told Spanish radio from the Taj. “We are in contact with some deputies inside the hotel, with one in a room and another hidden in the kitchen. There's another official hurt and in hospital.” A British parliamentarian was among other members of a delegation of European politicians who were staying in the Taj ahead of the forthcoming EU-India summit. He said he saw a gunman opening fire in the lobby of Taj Mahal hotel, where he and other members of delegation of European politicians were staying ahead of the forthcoming EU-India summit. “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,” said Sajjad Karim, an MEP for the North West of England. “I was in the lobby of the hotel when gunmen came in and people started running.” “There were about 25 or 30 of us,” said the Tory MEP, speaking to the Guardian by mobile phone from a barricaded basement room. “Some of us split one way and some another. A gunman just stood there spraying bullets around, right next to me. I managed to turn away and I ran into the hotel kitchen and then we were shunted into a restaurant in the basement. “We are now in the dark in this room and we've barricaded all the doors. It's really bad, “ added Mr Karim. Inside the Oberoi A British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi hotel told Sky News television that the gunmen who struck there singled out Britons and Americans. Alex Chamberlain said a gunman, a young man of 22 or 23, ushered 30 or 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and ordered everyone to put up their hands. He said the gunman spoke in Hindi or Urdu. “They were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said: ‘Where are you from?” and he said he's from Italy and they said ‘fine' and they left him alone. And I thought: ‘Fine, they're going to shoot me if they ask me anything _ and thank God they didn't,” he said. Chamberlain said he managed to slip away as the patrons were forced to walk up stairs, but he thought much of the group was being held hostage. Two British men working in Mumbai described how the gunmen burst into the Kandahar restaurant at the Oberoi, and rounded up diners who appeared to be tourists. Alex Chamberlain, who is in Mumbai working for the Indian Premier League website told The Guardian: “A guy burst into the Kandahar with a machine gun. He was in western dress wearing jeans and he asked for British and American tourists.” “They told everybody to stop and put their hands up and asked if there were any British or Americans. My friend said to me, don't be a hero, don't say you are British.” “I am sure that is what this is all about. They were talking about British and Americans specifically.” He said that he and another man managed to escape the gunmen through a fire exit and stumbled through smoke that was now filling the hotel.” They made their way to the lobby and emerged outside to find fire engines and 20 armed policemen, “looking as scared as we were”. Rajesh Patel, who works for HSBC, added: “Three men came into the restaurant. They were young, around 20 years old. And they started rounding up foreigners that were eating there. They told everyone to drop their phones and to ‘come with us' and then at that point the blast happened. So we decided to run outside but around 15 were taken, not just British and Americans but Indians as well. They were taken up to the 20th floor but we had run outside.” One woman, who gave her name as Souad, told Al Jazeera that she had escaped an attack on the Oberoi hotel. “We heard no alarms, nothing. My husband opened the door and we couldn't see outside - it was so dark with all the smoke - we couldn't breathe. “We were on the 17th floor of the hotel and we used towels to protect ourselves and then ran and got a taxi and then we just drove as far away as we could.” “I was in the restaurant inside Oberoi and I saw this series of gunshots and death which I don't want to see again,” a Spaniard who declined to give his name told Reuters. “I crawled out into the kitchen and waited there, until I sensed it was all quiet and seemed over.” Sourav Mishra, a Reuters reporter, was with friends at the Cafe Leopold when gunmen opened fire around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday. He was injured and taken to St. George's Hospital. “I heard some gunshots around 9:30. I was with my friends. Something hit me. I ran away and fell on the road. Then somebody picked me up. I have injuries below my shoulder,” Mishra said from a hospital bed he was sharing with three other people. Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said there were around four or five attackers in each of the two hotels. “They have attacked hotels, they have attacked the hospitals, they have attacked the railway station,” he said, adding that two attackers had been killed and two arrested. TV reports around 2 A.M. Saudi time said nine gunmen were arrested and two were killed The British Foreign Office said it was advising all British citizens in Mumbai to stay indoors. A driver told Reuters at least 50 Koreans were stuck inside the Taj with their drivers waiting outside. ‘Big conspiracy Elsewhere, firing was reported at the Cama Hospital in south Mumbai, while police said that a blast was reported in a taxi under a flyover in a suburban district, Vile Parle. There were also reports of a bomb explosion in a taxi in Mazegaon dockyard road. A Reuters reporter saw a hospital ward full of injured people with bullet and shrapnel wounds. Many people were crying as the injured were brought in on trolleys. Schools and offices shut down Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attacks, which Interior Minister Patil described as a “big conspiracy.” The US State Department voiced shock at the “horrific” events in Mumbai, while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the attacks “outrageous.” France, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said it condemned the attacks “in the strongest possible terms.” 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.MAJOR ATTACKSMumbai is a frequent target of attacks. In March 1993, 13 explosions resulted in 257 deaths and over 700 injuries. The blasts were orchestrated by an organized crime syndicate. In March, 2003, a bomb attack on a commuter train in Mumbai killed 11 people. In August of that year, twin car bombings in Mumbai killed at least 52 people and injured 150. Indian officials blamed a Pakistan-based terror outfit for the crime. In July 2006, seven bomb blasts occurred at various places on the Mumbai Suburban Railway, killing 200 people. Sept. 13, 2008: At least five explosions in crowded shopping areas kill at least 21 people and wound at least 100 in New Delhi. July 26, 2008: At least 16 small bombs explode in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, killing at least 45. July 25, 2008: Seven small bombs hit Bangalore, killing at least two people. May 13, 2008: Seven bombs tear through crowded markets and rip apart streets outside Hindu temples in Jaipur, killing at least 80 people. Nov. 24, 2007: A series of near-simultaneous explosions rip through courthouse complexes in the north Indian cities of Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad, killing 16. Aug. 25, 2007: At least 43 people are killed by three explosions at a park and a street-side food stall in Hyderabad. May 18, 2007: A bomb goes off during Friday prayers at a historic mosque in the southern city of Hyderabad, killing 11. Police later shoot and kill five people in clashes with Muslims. Feb. 19, 2007: A train heading from India to Pakistan is torn apart by two bombs, sparking a fire that kills at least 68 people. July 11, 2006: Seven blasts rip through railway stations and trains in Mumbai, killing 187. March 7, 2006 _ Three explosions rock a Hindu temple and a train station in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, killing 20. Oct. 29, 2005: Sixty-two people are killed when three blasts rip through markets in New Delhi ahead of Diwali. __
