Scores killed in Mumbai rampage

[The_Gabe]

Source: CNN.com

 

 

 

(CNN) -- Gunmen rampaged through a series of targets in the Indian city of Mumbai killing indiscriminately and taking hostages at two luxury hotels.

 

 

 

 

 

A wounded man is carried from the attacked rail station.

 

 

 

1 of 3 more photos » Mumbai police spokesman Satish Katsa said gunmen have taken over the Taj Mahal Hotel and Hotel Oberoi, and were holding hostages on multiple floors.

 

 

 

Flames and smoke poured from the Taj early Thursday, and several explosions were heard at the building.

 

 

 

At the Oberoi the military reportedly entered the building and a large explosion was heard shortly afterwards.

 

 

 

Another hostage situation was unfolding at Cama Hospital, CNN's sister network in India, CNN-IBN reported.

 

 

 

Earlier, A.N. Roy, the police chief of Maharashtra state, said there were ongoing battles at the two five-star hotels. iReport.com: Are you there?

 

 

 

One witness told local reporters that gunmen tried to find people with U.S. or British passports and took about 15 of them hostage.

 

 

 

Andrew Stevens, a CNN anchor who was staying at the Taj with a CNN crew, estimated about half the hotel's guests were Westerners. Watch flames pour from the Taj Mahal Hotel »

 

 

 

British businessman Alan Jones told CNN.com how he was about to get out of an elevator in the Oberoi when another guest was shot.

 

 

 

"A bullet hit one of the Japanese men in the back of the leg. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere." Read Alan Jones' story

 

 

 

IBN, quoting police sources, reported hostages were taken at the both hotels.

 

 

 

Gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades hit nine sites including the hotels, a cafe, a hospital and a train station in coordinated attacks, police say.

 

 

 

Maharashtra state government spokesman Bhushan Gagrani said 78 people were killed and about 200 wounded, while police confirmed 26 deaths.

 

 

 

Among the dead is the head of the Maharashtra state's anti-terror squad, who apparently died in the violent aftermath of the attacks rather than being a target for the killers.

 

 

 

Two suspected militants were gunned down and nine suspects had been arrested, Gagrani said. Three people were detained for questioning from one of the hotels, he added. Watch the chaos as gunmen hit numerous targets »

 

 

 

Sajjad Karim, associated with a group of European lawmakers attending an upcoming EU-India summit, told The Associated Press that he was in the main lobby of the Taj Mahal Hotel when "there was all of a sudden a lot of firing outside."

 

 

 

As he tried to get away, he told the AP: "Another gunmen appeared in front of us, carrying machine gun-type weapons. And he just started firing at us. ... I just turned and ran in the opposite direction."

 

 

 

Video showed scenes of chaos, with people crowding Mumbai's streets, some helping others who appeared to be wounded. Watch scenes of destruction »

 

 

 

The attacks began about 2230 local time (1700 GMT) and more than two hours later witnesses were reporting new explosions and gunfire.

 

 

 

A group called Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility, IBN reported, but analysts told CNN that may be a front name to throw investigators off who was really behind the attacks.

 

 

 

The targets include businesses frequented by international visitors in the city which is India's financial center.

 

 

 

A local journalist told CNN he had seen evidence of an attack at the city's domestic airport, which is on the outskirts of the Mumbai.

 

 

 

IBN reported explosions at a gas station and inside a taxi on a dockside road.

 

 

 

Attacks were carried out at the Taj and Oberoi hotels, the popular Café Leopold, and Cama Hospital, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station.

 

 

 

Sourav Mishra, a Reuters.com reporter, was with friends at the Cafe Leopold when gunmen opened fire.

 

 

 

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U.S.: 1 888 407 4747 "I heard some gunshots ... Something hit me. I ran away and fell on the road. Then somebody picked me up. I have injuries below my shoulder," Mishra said from a hospital bed he was sharing with three other people.

 

 

 

India has suffered a number of attacks in recent years, including a string of bombs that ripped through packed Mumbai commuter trains and platforms during rush hour in July 2006. About 209 people were killed in that attack.

 

 

 

Last July, a series of synchronized bomb blasts in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad left 49 dead and more than 100 wounded, police said.

 

 

 

But Paresh Parihar, a businessman in Mumbai, described Wednesday's attacks as unlike anything he had seen.

 

 

 

"They really don't fear for their lives or any other activity that could put them in danger," he told CNN. "This is really a very unusual situation."

 

 

 

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said: "We are monitoring the situation very closely and stand ready to support the Indian authorities as they deal with this horrific series of attacks."

 

 

 

The U.S. has opened a telephone hotline for citizens concerned about family or friends who may be visiting or living Mumbai.

 

 

 

HOLY CRAP!

[purfishx]

"A bullet hit one of the Japanese men in the back of the leg. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere."

 

 

 

Woaaah...

[The_Gabe]

I heard there were 6 other attacks in India today also :ohnoes:

[BlueLancer]

Without commenting on the mindless bloodbath, I've come to literally hate the wording british & american media uses in it's stories.

 

 

 

Human lives aren't "scores" or "masses", jesus christ. Then complaining about people being desensitized to world events... How'd the reporter like if his/her family members were being classified as a "score"? Reeks of a person who never got as much as a papercut personally

[obfuscator]

I'm not sure how you would have them portray it. By some means 70 people is not even considered a "score" or a "mass" of people, the fact that they use these terms may be in fact trying to show how much of a tragedy it is that even 1 person dies.

 

 

 

I saw a picture of the railway station afterwords, It was quite graphic. :(

[The_Gabe]

I'm not sure how you would have them portray it. By some means 70 people is not even considered a "score" or a "mass" of people, the fact that they use these terms may be in fact trying to show how much of a tragedy it is that even 1 person dies.

 

 

 

I saw a picture of the railway station afterwords, It was quite graphic. :(

 

 

 

Death toll is up to 87 people with 187 or so wounded.

[venomai]

Without commenting on the mindless bloodbath, I've come to literally hate the wording british & american media uses in it's stories.

 

 

 

Human lives aren't "scores" or "masses", jesus christ. Then complaining about people being desensitized to world events... How'd the reporter like if his/her family members were being classified as a "score"? Reeks of a person who never got as much as a papercut personally

 

Using "scores" or "masses" is a more dramatic way of saying "lots of." It's when the headlines start to read "LOTS OF PEOPLE KILLED TODAY" that I worry about desensitization.

[The Observer]

Meh, I'm not surprised anymore. They have just been getting more prevalent and prevalent in the recent years that I'm surprised it's even news anymore.

[DerekZoolandah]

My girlfriend's father was supposed to be in that hotel today, but instead of going (for a diplomatic reason) stayed to visit her (she lives with her mother). I thought that was a bit spooky.

[warri0r45]

Without commenting on the mindless bloodbath, I've come to literally hate the wording british & american media uses in it's stories.

 

 

 

Human lives aren't "scores" or "masses", jesus christ. Then complaining about people being desensitized to world events... How'd the reporter like if his/her family members were being classified as a "score"? Reeks of a person who never got as much as a papercut personally

 

 

 

Why does that bother you so much? Sorry, I can't understand why it does.

 

 

 

As for the story, it sounds pretty horrible. Imagine being in the middle of that scene. I'd be scared as hell.

[user1991]

The only reason people care about this so much is because the targets were wealthy Brits and Americans. 90 people? More than that die every 10 seconds from starvation.

 

 

 

Sure, this is a tragic event, but yet again, the media are blowing it way out of proportion. How big do you think the news would be if it had been peasant farmers that were shot?

 

 

 

*Bets that India's tourism goes down 95%*

[Stilev]

My girlfriend's father was supposed to be in that hotel today, but instead of going (for a diplomatic reason) stayed to visit her (she lives with her mother). I thought that was a bit spooky.

 

 

 

i never find stuff like that weird, your obviously not hearing about the guy who went skipped a wedding to go to the hotel to get a promotion only to get attacked, you hear about the guy that skipped the hotel to do something.

 

 

 

horrible, wish i had heard more about it, sounds terrible :(

[The_Gabe]

I think the place is not on fire anymore.

[ThurinEthir]

There was a video on CNN of shots being fired, it was seriously raining bullets. People were diving all over, and there was a zoom up of a guy's bloody hand. Scary stuff.

[magekillr]

According to highly reliable intelligence sources, two boatfuls of weapons and some 18-20 terrorists most likely came from Karachi in Pakistan.

 

Intelligence agencies are zeroing in on the Lashkar-e-Tayiba as the agency behind the terror attacks.

 

 

 

The initial interrogation of terrorists captured in Mumbai has yielded some basic information. According to sources, for some time the directions kept coming "live" to the terrorists in Mumbai via satellite phones.

 

 

 

The intelligence sources said information is coming out quite rapidly because some six terrorists, who are in the custody of the Mumbai police, are under interrogation right now. He said the entire operation was led by Pakistani operators of the LeT but he doesn't rule out the involvement of some local youngsters in it.

 

 

 

"They are successful and we have failed," said the police officer with the agency. He said these attacks show that "the terrorists want to show that India is an unsafe place to do business in. The way they have focused on foreigners, they want to make Mumbai unattractive for foreign nationals

 

 

 

Got this from a friend of mine with family in India.

[Ginger_Warrior]

For some reason, I felt more emotionally stunned by this terrorist attack than all the others. Not because Britons were involved. Human life is human life, British or otherwise.

 

 

 

I think it might be the way they were targeted, and the precision with which this attack was executed. I think there are four areas the terrorists attacked in coordination. I guess it disturbs me how people how can hate so much they're willing to carry out attacks on a specific nation's people, even if they had nothing to do with the situation in the Middle East, and put that much planning into it.

 

 

 

Course, we don't know it's al-Qaeda. It could be Hindu militants as well. But it is symptomatic of Islamism.

[MirageOfDeath]

Course, we don't know it's al-Qaeda. It could be Hindu militants as well. But it is symptomatic of Islamism.

 

It's being said they are Muhajadeen (sp?). They're demanding terror suspects in Indian prisons be released according to CNN.

[Lenticular_J]

[cabbage], they're getting smart. This is awful.

 

 

 

They keep going after Westerners in particular when they're in less protectable areas. Damn. So many people... All those lives, wasted. For [cabbage]. [bleep]ing...Just pisses me off. So much. All of it.

[henman888]

Didn't think this would be possible. I think its time for India to actually do something against these attacks like get better security.

[MirageOfDeath]

Didn't think this would be possible. I think its time for India to actually do something against these attacks like get better security.

 

Yeah a lot of Indians seem to be frustrated with the government cause they haven't seriously stepped up security measures even after the terrorist attacks there in recent years.

[RichieMcD]

Yes they should definitely improve their security but how obvious was an attack of this scale. It was properly planned out to cause as much destruction as possible, they hit multiple locations at once, killed westerners and caused destruction to the buildings through fire and grenades.

 

 

 

This should be almost viewed like 9/11, an atrocity to be used as a learning experience so it doesn't happen again.

[BlueLancer]

 

This should be almost viewed like 9/11, an atrocity to be used as a learning experience so it doesn't happen again.

 

 

 

It's only another 9/11 if westerners are involved apparently, because these attacks happen and result with local casualties very often wtihout anyone noticing it.

 

 

 

That's not to say it's sick as hell, they apparently even killed children, for that alone they should have no right to even be alive anymore. It doesn't matter what country a human is from like Ginger_Warrior said. Nobody has the right to kill innocents.

[RichieMcD]

 

This should be almost viewed like 9/11, an atrocity to be used as a learning experience so it doesn't happen again.

 

 

 

It's only another 9/11 if westerners are involved apparently, because these attacks happen and result with local casualties very often wtihout anyone noticing it.

 

 

 

That's not to say it's sick as hell, they apparently even killed children, for that alone they should have no right to even be alive anymore. It doesn't matter what country a human is from like Ginger_Warrior said. Nobody has the right to kill innocents.

 

 

 

When I said that I didn't mean it as a statement of preventing western attacks, but preventing terrorist attacks in general, I was comparing it to 9/11 as that was also a learning experience in anti-terrorism measures.

 

 

 

Every human life is equal, whether a wealthy westerner, an impoverished African or a sweatshop working Asain, all are equal and all deserve to be free from terrorist attacks, no matter where they're from.

[MirageOfDeath]

This should be almost viewed like 9/11, an atrocity to be used as a learning experience so it doesn't happen again.

 

Here's the thing though, it's not like this was the first time it has happened in Mumbai in recent times. Only 2 years ago there were co-ordinated train bombings there that killed over 200 people. Do westerners have to die before terrorism is taken seriously?

[Sam]

I was shocked to see this - even if it is wealthy americans/britains, it's peoples lives that they talk about.