Hostage still held in hotels in Mumbai
28/11/2008 16:46
A hostage crisis continued in Mumbai, India, with over 10 hostages still
in Taj Hotel and another 100 people being believed to be trapped in Oberoi
Hotel, police said today.
It's over 36 hours since Mumbai was taken over by
terrorist attack. And there's still no end to the nightmare.
Five Chinese
people who were among the trapped in Oberoi yesterday are safe now, Zhang
Longhai, an official of the Chinese Consulate-General in Mumbai, told
Xinhua.
Operations are still on in these two five-star hotels. Fresh rounds
of gunfire rung out from the encounter area. At the Oberoi, there are believed
to be two or three terrorists. No report of the exact number of remaining
terrorists inside the Taj Hotel now.
"At least one injured terrorist is
inside Taj hotel. The stage seems to be set for a final operation there," police
said.
This morning, seven hostages had been rescued from Nariman House after
powerful gunshots.
So far, 125 people have been killed, including 14
policemen and six foreigners, and 327 injured in a series of terrorist attacks
in Mumbai since Wednesday evening.
Security forces from Indian army, navy,
National Security Guard and Rapid Action Force got involved in the raging
encounter with heavily-armed terrorists.
Terrorists had set up "Control
Rooms" in the Taj and Oberoi and did prior reconnaissance executing plans worked
"over months", Indian Union Cabinet minister Kapil Sibal said.
Sibal said the
unprecedented terror attack in the country's financial capital was
well-planned.
As security agencies pieced together various information, there
were reports that a likely arm of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e- Toiba may have
been involved in the attacks.
Xinhua
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