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The Mumbai massacre (Updated)

All the latest on the attacks. Check back often.

The Mumbai massacre

For analysis of the attacks, read Michael Petrou at The World Desk.

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The latest news:

Stratfor has learned that discussions are already taking place among senior Congress officials in New Delhi to amass troops along the border in Kashmir, a situation reminiscent of the Indian response to the 2001 parliamentary bombing in Mumbai that led to a near-nuclear confrontation between India and Pakistan.
Stratfor

Mumbai: At least five hostages and two terrorists have been killed at Nariman House, a Jewish centre in Mumbai that was taken over by militants on Wednesday night. J K Dutt, director general of the National Security Guard (NSG) commandos, confirmed the death of five hostages and that of two terrorists at the Jewish centre in Colaba. “We have captured the whole building,” said Dutt, adding the commandos were moving through the building to check for explosives.
NARIMAN CLEAR: Two terrorists, 5 inmates dead (IBN)

At least two British-born Pakistanis are among the Mumbai terrorists, it was revealed today. According to one source, as many as seven of the gunmen may have British connections and some may have come from the Leeds and Bradford area. Two Britons were captured with eight other terrorists after commandos stormed two hotels and a Jewish centre to free hostages. The death toll mounted to 143 people this morning after 24 bodies were found in the Oberoi hotel. Later, Israeli rescue service Zaka reported that all the remaining nine hostages in the Jewish centre were believed to be dead. More than 327 people have been injured. Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh revealed that up to 25 terrorists were responsible for the bomb blasts and shootings that targeted tourists and foreign interests.
Mumbai siege gunmen are from Britain (Evening Standard)

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon says a Canadian has been killed in Mumbai where terrorists have staged a series of deadly attacks. In a teleconference statement early Friday, Cannon did not identify the dead Canadian or provide details concerning the circumstances surrounding the death. The victim’s family has been notified. Cannon also said that consular officials in Mumbai have been in contact with two other Canadians who were wounded during the terror attacks on Wednesday and subsequent siege. He said one had been released from hospital and the other is in stable condition.
One Canadian killed, two hurt, six reported missing after Mumbai attacks (Canadian Press)

Ismail alias Zakiruallah, a Punjabi from Faridkot in Pakistan who was arrested by the Mumbai police on Wednesday night during the terror attacks, is giving interrogators the complete story of how the sensational terror operation was planned and executed. He has told the Mumbai police that he has been trained by the Lashkar e Tayiba, said police sources while giving chilling details of the most daring terror attack in India that has so far killed 101 people–and the horror story is not over, yet. rediff.com, with help of political and governmental sources in New Delhi [Images] and Mumbai, including from intelligence, has pieced together the government’s thinking on the matter.
Exclusive: LeT terrorist Ismail arrested in Mumbai (rediff.com)

Indian commandos scoured through the flame and wreckage of two posh hotels Thursday, searching for survivors and battling bands of gunmen who unleashed two days of chaos here in India’s commercial capital. A third group of gunmen, the remnants of well-organized squads of attackers, remained holed up in a Jewish community center. By midnight, amid early indications that the sieges were ending, fears were growing that the death toll would rise past the more than 119 known. Smoke was still rising from one of the hotels; people who escaped reported stepping around corpses. Dozens, perhaps many more, remained trapped or were held hostage to the heavily armed assailants; their survival was yet to be determined.
Indian Forces Tighten Grip on Mumbai (New York Times)

Three terrorists, including a Pakistani national, were arrested by the security forces from the Taj hotel on Thursday night. Ajmal Amir Kamal, a resident of Faridkot, Multan in Pakistan and two others were arrested from the hotel, official sources said. Kamal told the investigators that they had come in a merchant vessel, which dropped them at 10 nautical miles ahead of Indian waters. From there, they took a dingy fibre glass boat to enter the Indian waters, he said. There were 12 people on the boat, he said. The arrested militants belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, they said.
3 suspected terrorists arrested from Taj (IBN)

An Israeli rescue team left Thursday afternoon for Mumbai, India, where gunmen were holding several residents hostage at a Jewish Center, a spokesman for the team told CNN.
Israeli rescue team heads to Mumbai (CNN)

The terror attacks in Mumbai have put the cops on high alert in Delhi. There is uneasiness since some of the suspects of September’s Delhi blasts are still on the run and they could trigger explosions in the Capital. Delhi Police has intensified efforts to nab them. In a late-night development, some sympathisers of SIMI in the capital were picked up for interrogation. The Mumbai attack, says intelligence sources, was planned in October this year after the Indian Mujahideen (IM) module was busted in September in which two terrorists were killed.
City on high alert, pro-SIMI men picked up (Times of India)

A fishing trawler that went missing on November 14 may have carried the terrorists to Colaba coast to hold Mumbai hostage on Wednesday, police sources told TOI. This boat – Kuber – belongs to a fisherman from Porbander, Vinod Masani, who has been detained by Porbander police for interrogation. Indian Coast Guard spotted the boat with the body of captain Amarsing Naran, 30, in it. Four crew from Navsari and Junagadh districts are still missing. The Coast Guard is also looking for another missing boat which could have been used by terrorists. It is suspected that this trawler was captured by the terrorists on high seas to be used as their transport vehicle to reach Gateway of India from Karachi port.
Terrorists may have hijacked Porbander fishing boat (Times of India)

Exchange of fire intensified at Nariman House, a residential complex with a Jewish prayer hall, where also a hostage situation was prevailing. There were unconfirmed reports of a similar situation in Cama hospital.
NSG preparing to launch attack on Nariman House (IBN)

On Thanksgiving morning, an Obama aide tells ABC News, President-elect Barack Obama spoke by phone with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, receiving additional briefings on Wednesday’s Mumbai terrorist attacks, which have left over 100 people dead and hundreds more wounded.
Obama Speaks Again to Rice, Gets Briefed on Mumbai Attacks (ABC)

An organization calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for attacks in Mumbai India that have killed at least 110 people and wounded over 250. The group sent an email to news organizations claiming responsibility.
Deccan Mujahideen email, read it here (IHOII)

Terrorists caught on CCTV- Mumbai 26 november 2008 (YouTube)

A Genie-nominated Canadian voice actor is recovering in hospital after being shot three times in the Mumbai attacks. A U.S.-based spiritual meditation organization says Michael Rudder was one of two wounded Canadians who were part of a delegation on a trip to India. Thomas Sechak of Synchronicity Foundation says Rudder, a Montrealer, and Helen Connolly of Toronto, were shot last night when militants stormed one of the hotels in Mumbai.
Canadian actor recovering in Mumbai after being shot 3 times (CBC)

Two Canadians have been shot and six other are being held hostage after militants attacked targets throughout Mumbai, India, killing at least 119 people.
‘This attack is shaping up to be India’s 9/11’ (Toronto Star)

Britain’s spy agencies had little warning of the terrorist attack in Mumbai, which bore some Al-Qaida hallmarks but appears unlikely to be linked to the group’s core leadership, officials said on Thursday. Westerners in India’s financial centre were targeted in the spectacular attack comprised of multiple, simultaneous assaults a signature of past Al-Qaida actions including the September 11 attacks. But the Indian attack was carried out by gunmen and not the suicide bombers frequently employed by Al-Qaida and its affiliates.
Al-Qaida hallmarks in Mumbai attacks? (NDTV)

There can be 10 to 12 terrorists involved in the terror attack inside Taj Hotel in Mumbai, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil said on Thursday. Five of them have been killed and one of them arrested, he said outside the hotel as security forces prepared to launch an assault to end the terror. Patil said he was not sure about the exact number of hostages in the hotel where commandos of NSG and Mumbai Police were involved in the operation. He said they have not received any demands from militants and hoped that a breakthrough will be achieved soon.
10-12 terrorists involved in Taj Hotel attack: RR Patil (IBN)

Indian commandos rescued some hostages in raids on two luxury hotels on Thursday as violent standoffs continued against heavily armed militants who a day earlier had swept into Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, in a shocking series of coordinated and bloody attacks. In a televised address, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the attackers probably had “external linkages” — the first official indication that the authorities were likely to blame outsiders for the assaults, whose tactics were strikingly different in scope, audacity, execution and style than other recent terrorist attacks in India, according to counter-terrorism experts.
Scores killed in India attacks; standoffs continue (International Herald Tribune)

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has vowed to take “whatever measures are necessary” to track down those responsible for the Mumbai attacks. He said the perpetrators were based “outside the country” and India would not tolerate “neighbours” who provide a haven to militants targeting it.
Gunmen ‘still holed up in Mumbai’ (BBC)

If the Nov. 26 attacks in Mumbai were carried out by Islamist militants as it appears, the Indian government will have little choice, politically speaking, but to blame them on Pakistan. That will in turn spark a crisis between the two nuclear rivals that will draw the United States into the fray.
Red Alert: Possible Geopolitical Consequences of the Mumbai Attacks (Stratfor)

A map and timeline of the attacks (NDTV)

As many as 125 people, including 14 police personnel, have been killed in the Mumbai terror attacks, the Union Home Ministry said on Thursday night. Quoting latest figures received from Mumbai, the Ministry said the dead also included six foreigners and one homeguard jawan. The remaining 104 were public. The Ministry said 327 persons were injured — police 26, public 294 and foreigners seven.
Death toll 125, injured 327 in Mumbai attacks: Centre (IBN)

The National Security Guard has declared an all-clear at the Taj Mahal hotel where a fierce gunbattle was on between the forces and terrorists for the past 20 hours. The NSG says all terrorists at Taj have been killed that it will comb the premises very carefully. Earlier, a huge explosion was heard from inside the hotel at around 2000 hrs.
ALL TERRORISTS AT TAJ KILLED: NSG (IBN)

The BBC’s Damian Grammaticas says: The operation at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel is still not over. The numbers of casualties involved are quite staggering; 325 injured, six of them Britons, some of them seriously ill in hospital here. At the Oberoi, there are still hostages inside.
Live updates: Mumbai attacks (BBC News)

Fresh gunfire and explosions were heard late Thursday in Mumbai as police and soldiers battled terrorists at three sites about 24 hours after the first wave of violence hit the city. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suggested the group behind the terrorist attacks, which killed 125 people, was based outside the country.
Mumbai: Hostages freed as PM blames ‘outsiders’ (CNN)

About 10 to 12 gunmen remain holed up with hostages inside two Mumbai hotels and a Jewish centre, a top Indian general said today. Major General RK Huda told New Delhi Television that the rest of the gunmen appeared to have been killed or captured.
Terrorist gunmen holed up in Mumbai hotels (The Guardian)

Canadians are among the hostages held by suspected Muslim militants who attacked at least 10 targets in India’s financial capital of Mumbai, killing 119 people. What is more, a U.S.-based group said two of injured are Canadians.
Canadians among hostages (The Globe and Mail)

Coordinated terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India killed at least 101 people and wounded more than 250. Several targets — at least two-five star hotels, the city’s largest train station, a Jewish center, a movie theater and a hospital — were attacked by militants wielding grenades and machine guns. Ongoing hostage situations continued through the night and morning at the Taj Mahal and Oberei Hotels and the Nariman House, which is the home of the city’s Chabad-Lubavitch center.
Mumbai Attacks: Day Two (The Lede/New York Times)

Indian commandos fought Islamic militants for control of two Bombay hotels this evening to save dozens of foreigners trapped or being held hostage inside. Guests and workers rescued from the hotels said that bodies were littering the corridors, suggesting that the final death toll from the al-Qaeda-style terror attacks could continue to climb. As the country’s Prime Minister blamed forces “outside the country” for last night’s co-ordinated attacks, the Indian Navy boarded and searched a cargo ship recently arrived off Bombay from Pakistan.
Indian special forces battle terrorists in bid to rescue Bombay hotel hostages (The Times of London)

Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy said on Thursday that the hostage situation had ended at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, but that there were still apparently hostages in the Trident Oberoi.
Mumbai attacks: Hostages in Taj reportedly released (Dawn)

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