Posted on 11/26/2008 7:39:39 PM PST by libh8er
GUNMEN who killed more than 80 people in Mumbai last night ordered hotel guests: “Put your hand up if you’re British or American.” Frightened hostages were marched off — and their fate was unclear. Local reports said they could include up to 40 British and other foreigners.
Late last night police were said to be storming two luxury hotels, one of which was ablaze.
The Oberoi and Taj Mahal Palace hotels were among at least SEVEN locations attacked simultaneously as maniacs with machine guns and bombs staged massacres that rocked the teeming Indian city.
At least 900 were wounded as the wild-eyed terrorists, thought to be Islamic fanatics, opened fire and lobbed grenades indiscriminately.
A rail station, restaurant and police HQ were also hit, along with a hospital where 58 perished.
The Foreign Office was frantically trying to find out if Britons were among the latest victims.
Anyone concerned about friends or relatives should call the Foreign Office on 0207 0080000
At the Oberoi, Brit Alex Chamberlain — who works for the Indian Premier League cricket website — told how he managed to slip away as up to 40 guests were herded up 18 flights of stairs at gunpoint.
He said: “They told everybody to put their hands up 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.
“There was an Italian guy. They said, ‘Where are you from?’. He said he was from Italy and they said ‘fine’ and they left him alone.
“I thought, ‘Fine, they’re going to shoot me if they ask me anything — and thank God they didn’t.”
Fellow Brit Rakesh Patel confirmed: “They wanted anyone with British or American passports.”
Later an explosion was reported after commandos were said to have stormed in.
At the Taj Mahal Palace, British Euro MP Sajjad Karim told how he fled as gunmen burst in.
Holed up in its basement with other survivors, the Tory’s voice shook with fear as he said via mobile phone: “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.”
He told of seeing “several people go down” as the gunmen opened up.
A guest at a wedding reception said: “Everyone — the bride, the groom, everyone — just ran.”
One hotel guest said a stairway was full of bodies.
Amid the mayhem, police and paramedics used anything they could lay their hands on to transport the injured.
Some were wheeled to safety on the hotel’s golden luggage carts.
Screaming
Later, fires burned in the top floors as police reportedly tried to overpower gunmen.
Screaming people were seen hanging out of windows of lower floors as firefighters tried to reach them with ladders and cherry-pickers.
The hotel was used by the England cricket team just two weeks ago — and they were due to stay there again for next month’s Second Test.
Last night there were fears the Test may be called off.
Plans by Middlesex County Cricket Club to fly out today for the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League were scrapped.
The bloodbaths began at 10.33pm local time. Gunmen in jeans and carrying rucksacks fired AK47s and threw grenades at the crowded CST railway terminus — killing ten.
At the police HQ, a frantic cop yelled down the phone: “We are under fire, there is shooting at the gate.” The chief of the anti-terror squad was among three top cops reported killed.
Three more people died when a taxi was blown up near the airport.
Another target was the city’s famous Cafe Leopold — a mecca for tourists.
It was left pitted with bullet holes — with pools of blood on the floor where diners had fled leaving behind their shoes.
Journalist Sourav Mishra was wounded in the shoulder as he ate there with friends. Last night he was having to share a hospital bed with THREE other injured patients. He said: “I heard gunshots — something hit me. I ran away and fell on the road.”
Hospital officials said a Japanese man had died there and nine Europeans had been admitted, three of them in critical condition with gunshots.
An Indian government spokesman said four suspects had been killed in two incidents when they tried to flee in cars.
He added another more died at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and nine more were arrested.
Mumbai has frequently been targeted by Islamic extremists, including a series of bombings in July 2007 that killed 187 people.
A group calling itself the “Deccan Mujahedeen” last night boasted its members had staged the attacks.
Police said: “The encounters are still going on and we are trying to overpower them.”
Passivity is not an option. And how many of the Jews knew they were going to be exterminated?
That's what we're afraid of. Not saying that they wouldn't deserve it, but there's this little thing called "escalation". China doesn't like India. India nukes Pakistan, China could see that as a possible threat to themselves, and it could be "goodbye New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, etc.".
After that, who knows? Punishment there should be, but NOT the Big Boom.
China doesn’t like India. India nukes Pakistan, China could see that as a possible threat to themselves,
Or China could see it as the end of a problem that could get worse.
CARRY, CARRY, CARRY, CARRY, CARRY, CARRY, I CANNOT repeat it enough. Carry. If they come here, you have to be ready. That one time, something happens, and you left it at home, and you think, “damn, why didn’t I bring my gun, I could have done something!” ALWAY, EVERY DAY, IF YOU LEAVE HOME, LEAVE THE DANGED AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD, BUT TAKE YOUR WEAPON!!!!!
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