Posted on 11/26/2008 9:39:53 AM PST by Indian_Fighter_Kite
Mumbai: At least 15 people have been injured in gunfights between two groups in at least three places in Mumbai on Thursday night.
Details are sketchy but it is believed that two gangs fired at each other at outside CST Railway Terminus, Hotel Oberoi and the popular Café Leopold restaurant in Mumbai.
The first shooting took place near the CST police station
(Excerpt) Read more at ibnlive.in.com ...
Obama couldn’t rescue a kitten stuck inside a brown paper bag.
Image of burning pride will be scorched on to Indian psyche
It felt like India’s 9/11. Even in a country whose experience of terrorism dates back to its independence in 1947, the sight of Bombay’s Taj Mahal Palace hotel in flames after last night’s attacks was something that no one could ever have imagined.
For this was one of the nation’s most famous landmarks, an iconic building that encapsulated both the pomp and grandeur of the British Raj and the enduring vibrancy of India’s film and financial capital.
It was built in 1903 by Jamsetji N. Tata, the Indian industrialist, who believed that Bombay needed a grand hotel to take its place among the great cities of the world.
As thick black smoke billowed from its domed roof, and flames poured through its gothic arched windows, one Indian television anchor summed up the feelings of millions of watching Indians. “If America cannot forget the images of the World Trade Centre, this image of fire billowing out of this beautiful structure which represents Mumbai and its free spirit will not be forgotten here,” he said.
The symbolism was clearly no accident. The gunmen who stormed into the Taj last night appear to have set off a series of explosions with the specific intent of destroying the building.
Police suspect that they arrived by boat, mooring by the Gateway of India that was built in honour of King George V and Queen Mary in 1928.
They began their audacious assault at around 9.30pm by bursting into the hotel that was built in the Moorish, Oriental and Florentine styles on the waterfront overlooking the Arabian Sea. They opened fire indiscriminately on the crowd of well-heeled Indians and foreigners milling around the ornate lobby, with its famous cantilever stairway, onyx columns and crystal chandeliers.
As the masked gunmen started to move through the hotels’ corridors looking for foreigners, staff managed to warn many of the guests to stay in their rooms.
At 2.30am the army surrounded the building and began to storm it. At about 3.30am the fire started on the top floors of the hotel after a series of explosions and intermittent gunfire.
Firefighters tried to douse the flames but they were still raging by around 5am when there was a pause in the shooting.
Police said that nine gunmen were arrested and two were killed at the Taj. As about 100 terrified guests were finally evacuated from the hotel, the firefighters emerged too and described the scenes of devastation inside the pride of Bombay, with up to 100 guests still unaccounted for. “There’s major damage inside,” a fireman said as he emerged from the heritage wing of the hotel.
SNIP
I see nothing in the news saying Chabad house has been attacked.
I do however see bulletins telling Israeli’s to come there for shelter
You wouldn’t believe how Indian spices can extend storage times for applicable foods. My wife is from India, family still in Mumbai, and my impression while we had our emergency prep store is that Indians are true experts at food storage in their context, and the poorer they are the more they generally know about it. Refrigeration and piped-in gas are still unknown in many quarters.
I just called my friend from India. No response yet.
Thank you for the info.
oops, sorry all, I did not mean to include that last line with an early casualty total that has, tragically, been superseded by later news bulletins which much higher casualty figures.
I think that any suggestion that Pakistan is behind this is fairly absurd. That country wouldn’t target westerners as these terrorists reportedly have done. We send them billions each year.
Kashmiris would similarly attack Indian interests, not UK or American ones.
Granted, some of the terrorists may have been from Pakistan. We don’t know yet. But they were from somewhere, and if they’re from India, then we wouldn’t automatically assume the Indian government was behind the attacks.
People are surmising that it is probably Lashkar-e-Toiba, which is “closely linked to the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Taliban and al Qaeda.”
http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/jandk/terrorist_outfits/lashkar_e_toiba.htm
Here's a link to their website.
On the site, it's refered to as the Nariman House. It's within walking distance of the hotels that have been attacked.
I’ve seen references in several reports to shooting at the Chabad House and also to a hostage situation there..... I’ll try to find what I saw before.
The reported hostage situation is referred to the in the list of report headings here, but I’m not a Stratfor member so I cannot access whatever report may be behind the headlines on this page:
http://www.stratfor.com/situation_reports
Stratfor link at #712 refers to claim that boats used by the terrorists are registered in Pakistan.... don’t know if this is well confirmed yet or just an allegation.
Is anyone a Stratfor member who can determine whether they are providing good info or just hype? I would consider joining Stratfor if they really have first-rate info but I just don’t know how good their sources are....
“Granted, some of the terrorists may have been from Pakistan. We don’t know yet. But they were from somewhere, and if they’re from India, then we wouldn’t automatically assume the Indian government was behind the attacks”
My head is going to explode.
Al Qaeda ALWAYS invents a new group to take responsibility. AQ NEVER has openly taken responsibility, not until months or years or later, to the best of my knowlege.
Assume AQ, assume multiple simultaneaus attacks, assume follow-on attacks aimed at first responders, until hard facts say otherwise.
“A number of European Parliament Committee on International Trade delegates were staying in the Taj Mahal hotel when it was attacked.[22] British Conservative MEP, Sajjad Karim (who was in the lobby when gunmen initially opened fire there) and German Socialist MEP, Erika Mann were last heard of hiding in different parts of the building.[23] Also reported present was Spanish MEP Ignasi Guardans Cambó, who was barricaded in a hotel room.[citation needed] Another British Conservative MEP, Syed Kamall reports that he along with several other MEPs left the hotel and went to a nearby restaurant shortly before the attack.[23] Kamill also reported that Polish MEP, Jan Masiel, was thought to have been sleeping in his hotel room when the attacks occurred and has not been heard from since.[23] Kamil and Cambó report that a Hungarian MEP’s assistant has been shot.[23][24]”-—Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26_November_2008_Mumbai_attacks)
Thanks
Thanks for any info
Well it’s the Al Qaeda playbook and Lashkar-e-Toiba has executed from it before most recently in the 2006 Mumbai subway attacks.
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