100 dead as gunmen target Mumbai

[tekisui]

Teams of gunmen have stormed hotels, a popular restaurant, hospitals and a train station in co-ordinated attacks across Mumbai, killing at least 101 people, taking Westerners hostage and leaving parts of the city under siege.

A group of suspected Muslim militants claimed responsibility.

Police and gunmen were exchanging occasional gunfire at two luxury hotels and an unknown number of people were being held hostage, police said.

Officials said at least six of the militants had also been killed, while the total number of injured people was 287.

By mid-morning on Thursday, police were using loudspeakers in the streets of the city to declare a curfew around the landmark Taj Mahal hotel - one of the hotels to be targeted.

Meanwhile, black-clad commandos ran into the building as fresh gunshots rang out in the area - apparently the beginning of an assault on gunmen who had taken hostages inside the hotel.

A series of explosions had rocked the Taj Mahal just after midnight. By dawn, the fire was still burning.

The attackers specifically targeted Britons and Americans at the hotels and restaurant, witnesses said.

Alex Chamberlain, a British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi hotel, told Sky News television that a gunman ushered 30 to 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and, speaking in Hindi or Urdu, ordered everyone to put up their hands.

more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hVtr0sIkICKZFWLDE3kpll2udHQA

[tabbycat31]

1. keep everyone posted

Most of my family is in India right now for Thanksgiving, so i'm incredibly petrified about this whole thing. Can you please post updates as you find out.

[tekisui]

2. I can't not post, as I find them.

I wish your family well.

[tabbycat31]

3. thanks

It's already hard enough for me that i am not around my family this Thanskgiving (my extended family has taken me in).

I did send my dad an email to make sure that he tells me that they're alive, but I'm not sure how fast I'll get a response to it. My cellphone does not call overseas, and they don't have their cellphones on. MY sister is supposed to call tomorrow, so hopefully everyone is alive.