MUMBAI, India – Teams of gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, hospitals and a crowded train station in coordinated attacks across India’s financial capital last night, killing at least 101 people, taking western hostages, and leaving parts of the city still under siege this morning.
Suspected Muslim militants claimed responsibility for the attacks on at least 10 sites around the city that targeted Americans and Britons. At least 287 people were wounded.
Witness Bhaurao Kumbhar told a local Web site he saw a taxi “shattered to pieces.”
“Only the [tires] and the chassis were left,” he said. “Three people died in the taxi. One victim’s head flew 10 feet onto the divider. You cannot tell who the victims were or their age, they were injured so badly. Flesh was all around.”
Another witness told an Indian TV station, “I was just sitting and reading the paper. Bodies started falling. People were crying, people were limping. We were frightened. We started to run.”
Police said four gunmen took cover at the Chabad center run by the Brooklyn-based Lubavitch Hasidim, where several families live.
The gunmen fired indiscriminately from the building throughout the night, and stray bullets killed a couple in their home and a 16-year-old boy who stepped outside, CNN reported.
Lubavitch leaders feared for the safety of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, a former Brooklyn resident who directs the center. Friends lost contact with Holtzberg and his wife at around the time of the attacks, although it was later reported that his wife and their 2-year-old child were safe.
As dawn approached, police and gunmen were exchanging gunfire at two upscale hotels, the Taj Mahal and Oberoi, where an unknown number of people were still being held hostage.
By midday, reports indicated that commandos were carrying out assaults on terrorists at both hotels.
Earlier, explosions had rocked the Taj and a fire raged.
Screams were heard and black smoke billowed from the 105-year-old structure as firefighters plucked people from windows and balconies.
Alex Chamberlain, a British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi, told Sky News a gunman ushered 30 to 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway at about 10:30 p.m. and, speaking in Hindi or Urdu, ordered everyone to put up their hands.
“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.’ ”
The motive for the massacre was not immediately clear, but Mumbai is a frequent target of attacks by Islamic extremists, including bombings in July 2006 that killed 187 people.
A previously unknown group, Deccan Mujahedeen, claimed responsibility for the latest outrage.
Officials said at least eight militants were killed; nine were arrested.
“We’re going to catch them dead or alive,” vowed State Home Minister R.R. Patil said.
Authorities believed seven to 15 westerners were among those taken hostage at the Taj. Others were being held at the Oberoi. Their nationalities were not disclosed.
US State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said officials were not aware of any American casualties or hostages, but were still checking.
Officials at Bombay Hospital said a Japanese man had died there and nine Europeans were admitted, three in critical condition with gunshot wounds. All were brought from the Taj.
At least three top Indian police officers – including the chief of the anti-terror squad – were killed, said A.N. Roy, a police official.
Blood smeared the floor of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) rail station, where attackers sprayed bullets into throngs of commuters. The chief of the Mumbai railway police, A.K. Sharma, said several armed men were holed up there.
Other gunmen attacked the Cafe Leopold, a popular hangout for foreigners, and the police headquarters in southern Mumbai, the area where most of the attacks took place. The restaurant was riddled with bullet holes. Bloodstains and shoes left by fleeing customers littered the floor.
Officials also reported that terrorists attacked two medical centers, the Cama and GT hospitals, but it was not immediately clear if anyone was killed there. A domestic airport and dockyard were also attacked.
Several European lawmakers were among guests who had barricaded themselves inside the Taj, one of the city’s best-known destinations.
One British citizen said she was barricaded inside the Oberoi for six hours.
“There were about 20 or 30 people in each room,” she told the BBC. “The doors were locked very quickly. The lights turned off, and everybody just lay very still on the floor.”