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Mumbai survivors tell of how gunmen opened fire
Survivors of a series of co-ordinated terror attacks in India's financial capital of Mumbai told tonight how they fled as gunmen opened fire in a number of locations where locals and tourists were gathered.
They included a British MEP who said that he had seen a gunman opening fire in the lobby of Taj Mahal hotel, where he and other members of delegation of European politicians were staying ahead of the forthcoming EU-India summit.
"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," said Sajjad Karim, an MEP for the North West of England.
"I was in the lobby of the hotel when gunmen came in and people started running."
"There were about 25 or 30 of us," said the Tory MEP, speaking by mobile phone from a barricaded basement room.
"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 I 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've barricaded all the doors. It's really bad, " added Mr Karim.
Guests at the hotel, including Britons, were moved from one location to another amid confusion as at least one explosion rocked the building following the initial gun attacks.
The 105-year-old, 600-room waterfront hotel is described as one of Mumbai's architectural marvels. Located on the seafront, it has been host to royalty both domestic and foreign and was to have been the base for the England cricket team next month after a previous stay two weeks ago.
Two British men working in Mumbai described how the gunmen burst into the Kandahar restaurant at another hotel, the Oberoi, and rounded up diners who appeared to be tourists.
Alex Chamberlain, who is in Mumbai working for the Indian Premier League website said: "A guy burst into the Kandahar with a machine gun. He was in western dress wearing jeans and he asked for British and American tourists."
"They told everybody to stop and put their hands up and asked if there were any British or Americans. 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."
He said that he and another man managed to escape the gunmen through a fire exit and stumbled through smoke that was now filling the hotel."
They made their way to the lobby and emerged outside to find fire engines and 20 armed policemen, "looking as scared as we were".
Rajesh Patel, who works for HSBC, added: "Three men came into the restaurant. They were young, around 20 years old. And they started rounding up foreigners that were eating there. They told everyone to drop their phones and to 'come with us' and then at that point the blast happened. So we decided to run outside but around 15 were taken, not just British and Americans but Indians as well. The were taken up to the 20th floor but we had run outside."
One woman, who gave her name as Souad, told Al Jazeera that she had escaped an attack on the Oberoi hotel.
"We heard no alarms, nothing. My husband opened the door and we couldn't see outside - it was so dark with all the smoke - we couldn't breathe.
"We were on the 17th floor of the hotel and we used towels to protect ourselves and then ran and got a taxi and then we just drove as far away as we could."
Another Tory MEP, Said Kamal, told the Guardian that he had left the same Taj Mahal hotel earlier to go out for dinner and had received a call from a colleague warning him not to return as there had been a number of attacks.
"It seems like these attacks were deliberately targeting locations where foreigners were staying," said Mr Kamal, who added that a Hungarian official working with MEPs was among the injured.
"It sounds quite bad. I've been receiving texts from a German MEP who told me that she is hiding in one of the hotel kitchens. She just said 'it's dangerous and I'm in hiding'."
Indian Television stations showed pictures of the lobby of both the Taj and the Oberoi hotels on fire, and of people being evacuated from the Oberoi with their hands on their heads.
Some of the injured were evacuated from the Taj on the hotel's golden luggage carts.
Local channels also broadcast unconfirmed reports of shooting outside the Cafe Leopold, a popular restaurant for tourists in the city, and at hospitals and railway stations.
Al Jazeera journalist Riz Khan, who was in the city, said that the police appeared to have been taken by surprise.
"They are not equipped for this type of attack, which would have been organised as it struck several areas at once," he added.
Elsewhere, firing was reported at the Cama Hospital in south Mumbai, while police said that a blast was reported in a taxi under a flyover in a suburban district, Vile Parle. There was also reports of a bomb explosion in a taxi in Mazegaon dockyard road.
Police said that the attacks began shortly after 10.30pm at Chhatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST), formerly known as the Victoria Terminus (VT), where the gunmen claimed 10 lives.
The authorities added that three persons were killed in a bomb explosion in a taxi on Mazegaon dockyard road and an equal number were gunned down at Taj Hotel, where guests were told to stay indoors or not return. The victims in the hotel were said to be employees.
Mumbai General Railway Police Commissioner A K Sharma said that 30 persons were injured in the terminus incident.
"It seems to be a terrorist attack, many places are under siege by gunmen," he added.
"The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed. The encounters are still going on and we are trying to overpower them."
Hyderabad Deccan.Deccan Mujahideen??
WTF is that?
Of course anyone can claim responsibility falsely and give any name.Any conclusions right now will be stupidity. We have to wait and see he official word, what those terrorists will say.
Hyderabad Deccan.
The Urdu name differentiating between Sindh and AP, Hyderabads. Well thats the simplistic explanation.
Of course anyone can claim responsibility falsely and give any name.
Either for fame or defamation.
I wonder if the ATS chief was the target. Is he accomplished?
It is still chaotic. Several five star hotels attaacked.
Foreigners taken hostage.
Top policemen shot dead.
Who are these terrorists, no body knows. They have caught 2 terrorists, so we will know who are they in a while.
Army has been pressed in.
Situation is very serious.
Mumbai attackers looked for foreign passport holders
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A witness told Indian television that gunmen in Mumbai looked for British and U.S. passport holders.
"They wanted anyone with British or American passports," a witness at the Taj Hotel, who said he was from London and was in India on business, told the NDTV news channel. He had smoke stains all over his face. "They wanted foreigners."
The Anti-Terrorism agency chief went in for a rescue Op himself?NO HE DIEAD WILL LEADING A RESCUE OPERATION
The Anti-Terrorism agency chief went in for a rescue Op himself?
You sure? It doesn't say so anywhere.
Deccan Mujahideen??
WTF is that?
The Anti-Terrorism agency chief went in for a rescue Op himself?
You sure? It doesn't say so anywhere.