By Calvin Palmer
Gunmen thought to be Islamic terrorists targeted British and American tourists in Bombay’s luxury hotels and bars last night killing 80 people and taking 100 Westerners hostage.
The hostages were reported being held at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, where a group of British Members of the European Parliament are staying, and the nearby Oberoi hotel.
The gunmen attacked nine locations in the south of India’s financial capital in what appeared to be a series of co-ordinated attacks.
A senior police officer said: “The terrorists have used automatic weapons and we have reports that in some places hand grenades have been used. We have reports of 80 people dead and at least 250 injured. Many of them have serious injuries and the death toll will go up.”
Hemant Karkare, chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in Bombay, was among the victims when the gunmen attacked the police headquarters. Police said two of the terrorists have been killed.
A group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for the attacks but experts said they bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda.
Witnesses said the terrorists were specifically targeting British and American visitors. Guests in the restaurant of the five-star Oberoi hotel were challenged on their nationality as they were herded upstairs.
“They told everybody to stop and put their hands up and asked if there were any British or Americans,” said Alex Chamberlain, a British businessman. “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.”
Witnesses also described a “high intensity” bomb blast.
Paramilitary forces were preparing to storm the tower-block building, one of Bombay’s best known landmarks as smoke continued to pour from the hotel lobby amid fears that the hostages were being held by gunmen inside.
Sajjad Karim, MEP for northwest England, visiting Bombay as part of an EU delegation was caught up in the attack on the Taj Mahal Palace hotel but managed to flee and take shelter.
“I was in the lobby of the hotel when the gunmen came in and people started running,” he said via his cell phone. “There were about 25 or 30 of us, 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 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 have barricaded all the doors. It’s really bad.”
Security forces, including commandos, continued to fight gun battles with the terrorists hours after the initial attacks.
Gunfire was also reported at the Cama Hospital, suggesting that the terrorists were deliberately seeking to prevent the wounded from receiving medical care.
[Based on reports by The Times and The Daily Telegraph.]
