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Wednesday, 26 November 2008 16:12 |
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7751160.stm
Gunmen have opened fire at a number of sites in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), killing at least 78 people and injuring about 200 more.
Police said shooting was continuing and that the incidents were co-ordinated terrorist attacks. Gunmen had taken hostages at two hotels, they said.
At least seven sites have been targeted across India's financial capital.
There has been a wave of bombings in Indian cities in recent months which has left scores of people dead.
Most of the attacks have been blamed on Muslim militants, although police have also arrested suspected Hindu extremists.
Indiscriminate firing
On Wednesday, gunmen opened fire at sites including a train station, two five-star hotels, a hospital and a restaurant popular with tourists.
At least two blasts, suspected to be grenade attacks, were reported alongside the shootings.
Police said the gunmen had fired indiscriminately.
At least 10 people were killed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, they said.
"The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed," said AN Roy, police commissioner of Maharashtra state.
Some gunmen were still holed up in buildings that had been targeted, officials said.
Mr Roy said gunmen were holding people hostage at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels.
Local TV images showed blood-splattered streets, bodies being taken into ambulances and dramatic shots of what appeared to fresh blasts inside the Taj Mahal hotel.
One eyewitness told the BBC he had seen a gunman opening fire in the Taj Mahal's lobby.
He said he had seen people fall before he fled the lobby.
"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," he said.
One witness told local television that the gunmen were looking for people with British or US passports.
"They wanted foreigners," said the man, who said he was in India on business.
A series of attacks in Mumbai in July 2006 killed almost 190 people and injured more than 700.
Bombs were detonated on commuter trains during rush hour.
Police accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of planning the attacks, which they said were carried out by an Islamist militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba.
Pakistan rejected the allegation, saying there was no evidence that its intelligence staff were involved.
The shootings come at a time when ties between India and Pakistan have improved, and days after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari told a summit in Delhi that Pakistan would not be first to carry out a missile strike on India.
The two countries have a joint anti-terror mechanism whereby they are supposed to share information on terrorist attacks.
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