Canadians among hostages in Mumbai: report
Last Updated: Thursday, November 27, 2008 | 8:39 AM ET
CBC News
A police officer stands guard after shootings at a railway station in Mumbai on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Canadians were reportedly among the hostages being held in Mumbai following the series of attacks at a number of targets across India's financial capital that have left more than 100 people dead.
Deputy Home Secretary Bitin Srimali told the Associated Press Thursday that among the foreigners held captive were Americans, Britons, Italians, Swedes, Canadians, Yemenis, New Zealanders, Spaniards, Turks, a Singaporean and Israelis.
So far, Canada's Foreign Affairs Department and the High Commission in New Delhi have not confirmed that Canadians were among the hostages.
If Canadians are looking for information on relatives in Mumbai, they can contact the Department of Foreign Affairs at 1-613-996-8885 from inside Canada or 1-800-387-3124 from other countries.
Meanwhile, some hostages have been rescued from Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, one of two luxury hotels stormed by gunmen in the attacks.
"People who were held up there, they have all been rescued," Maharashtra state police Chief A.N. Roy told the NDTV news channel. "But there are guests in the rooms, we don't know how many."
Commandos garbed in black rushed the Taj Mahal early Thursday as the sound of gunshots reverberated through the area.
It was unclear if all hostages had been freed from the hotel. Gunfire and explosions could be heard from inside the building. Flames were also spotted billowing outside a window.
A gunman is seen with a rifle outside the Chatrapati Shivaj Terminal railway station in Mumbai. (Maharahstra Times/Associated Press)
More than 100 people were reportedly still trapped inside their rooms. Ambulances were seen driving up to the entrance of the hotel, and journalists were made to move even farther back from the area.
Soldiers outside the hotel said Indian security forces have been moving slowly, from room to room, looking for gunmen and booby traps. In the afternoon, bodies and hostages were taken out of the building.
At the nearby Trident/Oberoi Hotel, at least 20 to 30 people were still apparently being held hostage, according to a senior India Home Ministry official.
M.L. Kumawat, special secretary for internal security at the Home Ministry, said that the 21st to the eighth floors in the Oberoi had been cleared by security agencies.
Police were later seen escorting several hostages out of the hotel.
One of the self-proclaimed gunmen earlier told India TV that seven attackers were holding hostages inside the Oberoi.
"We want all Mujahedeens held in India released, and only after that, we will release the people," a man identified as Sahadullah told India TV.
"Release all the Mujahedeens, and Muslims living in India should not be troubled."
4 militants killed, up to 9 arrested
At least 104 people were killed and 314 injured in the attacks, a senior official at the Maharashtra state Home Ministry, Pradeep Indulkar, said Thursday morning. An organization calling itself Deccan Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Most of the dead were Indian nationals. Fourteen police officers, including the chief of the anti-terror squad, along with six foreigners, were also killed.
Police said they had shot dead four gunmen and arrested nine suspects.
Multiple locations across the city, including a packed train station, a popular tourist restaurant and a hospital, were targeted in a series of bloody rifle and grenade attacks.
Gunmen also laid siege to the headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch. Around 10:30 a.m., a woman, a child and an Indian cook were seen being led out of the building by police, said one witness
"The well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of panic, by choosing high profile targets and indiscriminately killing foreigners," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a television address.
Sharda Janardhan Chitikar, left, is consoled by a relative as she grieves the death of her two children as she waits for their bodies outside St. Georges Hospital in Mumbai on Thursday. (Gurinder Osan/Associated Press)
'They just fired randomly'
Americans and Britons appeared to be the target of the hotel attacks, witnesses have said. Most of the people killed, however, died in the attack on Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station as gunmen fired indiscriminately on waiting passengers.
One witness who watched as four young men dressed in black T-shirts and jeans and carrying rifles began shooting indiscriminately into the station's crowd trembled as he recounted the scene Thursday morning.
"They just fired randomly at people and then ran away. In seconds, people fell to the ground," Nasim Inam said between sobs, noting the attackers looked no older than 25.
"They were so young. They were young boys," said Inam. "I was standing behind. I was just behind. If they had turned around, it would have been me."
In similar attacks several kilometres away, gunmen disguised in police uniforms and driving a hijacked police van opened fire on crowds gathered around two hospitals.
"We felt the ground shake and heard the explosions," said Manish Tripathi, who escaped that attack unhurt.
"We heard a car speed up behind us. It was a police van, but the men inside were firing at us."
As the gunmen unleashed a hail of bullets into the crowd, "men were screaming that they had lost their fingers. There was blood all over," he said.
"Some were shot in the leg, some on the shoulder or hand. I feel they are still screaming."
Pakistan condemns attacks
Officials in neighbouring Pakistan also condemned the attacks and reaffirmed their disdain for the work of terrorists.
Police officers inspect a car after they shot dead two suspected gunmen in Mumbai late Wednesday night. (Associated Press)
"Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, while strongly condemning the incidents of violence in Mumbai, has expressed deep sorrow over the loss of precious lives," the Pakistani government said in a statement.
India has previously accused elements in Pakistan of supporting Islamist militants battling Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region and of complicity in bomb attacks elsewhere in India.
Mumbai, a sprawling city of 18 million inhabitants, has been repeatedly targeted by attacks blamed on Muslim militants and underworld figures since 1993.
The most recent attacks prior to Wednesday occurred in July 2006, when a series of co-ordinated bomb blasts on commuter trains during the city's morning rush hour killed nearly 190 people and injured more than 700.
