Indian commandos storm besieged Jewish center

Fri, 11/28/2008 10:37 PM World
Masked Indian commandos dropped from helicopters Friday onto the roof of a Jewish center where suspected Muslim militants were holed up, possibly with hostages, as sharpshooters kept up a steady stream of fire at the five-story building.
The assault came as commandos freed several dozen captives — including one clutching a baby_ from the nearby Oberoi hotel as they searched the building for attackers, on the third day since a chain of militant attacks across India's financial capital left at least 119 people dead.
Security officials insisted their operations were almost over.
"It's just a matter of a few hours that we'll be able to wrap up things," Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj told reporters.
But less than an hour later, two loud explosions and gunfire rang out at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel, which, on Thursday night, authorities had insisted was cleared of gunmen.
The commando attack on the center run by the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch was punctuated by gunshots and explosions from within the building as forces cleared it floor by floor, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
One camouflaged commando came out with a bandage on his forehead, while soldiers fired smoke grenades into the building and a steady stream of gunshots reverberated across the narrow alleys.
Hundreds of onlookers, many with binoculars, crowded onto roofs and in narrow alleys of south Mumbai, trying to catch a glimpse of the dramatic commando assault.
It was not immediately clear if there were hostages in the building or their fate.
At the Oberoi hotel, groups of captives were rushed out and loaded into waiting cars, buses and ambulances.
Among those released were a group of about 20 airline crew members, almost all Westerners.
Several of the rescued airline staff were in Lufthansa and Air France uniforms.
South African state radio reported that seven South African crew members had also been released from the Oberoi. Lufthansa said that all its seven crew members inside have now been rescued.
Among the others rescued from the hotel several clutched passports, including at least two Americans, a Briton, two Japanese nationals and several Indians.
Some carried luggage with Canadian flags, and two women were dressed in black abayas, traditional Muslim women's garments. The group included one man dressed in chef's uniform who was holding a small baby.
Kuwaiti state media said that at least eight Kuwaiti nationals had been released from the hotel.
"I'm going home, I'm going to see my wife," said Mark Abor, with a huge smile on his face after being released from the Oberoi hotel.
Arbor, from Britian had locked himself in his room during the siege. "These people here have been fantastic, the Indian authorities, the hotel staff. I think they are a great advertisement for their country," he said as security officials pulled him away.
It was unclear how many people remained inside.
The well-coordinated strikes by small bands of gunmen starting Wednesday night left the city shell-shocked.
Late Thursday, authorities said they had completed a rescue operation at the Taj Mahal hotel after about 400 people were brought out and officials said it had been cleared of gunmen. But on Friday morning, army commanders said two to three more militants were still inside with about 15 civilians. "We need to get them out of the rooms they have locked themselves into," said Brig. Bobby Mathews.
A few hours after that, Thamburaj, a security official, said at least one gunman was still alive inside the hotel and had cut of electricity on the floor where he was hiding.
Shortly after that announcement, another round of explosions and gunfire was heard inside the building.
State officials said 119 people had died and 288 were injured in the attacks.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed "external forces" for the violence — a phrase sometimes used to refer to Pakistani militants, whom Indian authorities often blame for attacks.
The gunmen were well-prepared, even carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy during the fight. Their main targets appeared to be Americans, Britons and Jews, though most of the dead seemed to be Indians and foreign tourists caught in the random gunfire.
The gunmen — some of whom strode casually through their targets in khakis and T-shirts — clearly came ready for a siege.
"They have AK-47s and grenades. They have bags full of grenades and have come fully prepared," said Maj. Gen. R.K. Hooda.
A U.S. investigative team was heading to Mumbai, a State Department official said Thursday evening, speaking on condition of anonymity because the U.S. and Indian governments were still working out final details. The official declined to identify which agency or agencies the team members came from.
India has been shaken repeatedly by terror attacks blamed on Muslim militants in recent years, but most of them were coordinated bombings striking random crowded places: markets, street corners, parks. Mumbai — one of the most populated cities in the world with some 18 million people — was hit by a series of bombings in July 2006 that killed 187 people.
These attacks were more sophisticated — and more brazen.
They began at about 9:20 p.m. with the shooters spraying gunfire across the Chhatrapati Shivaji railroad station, one of the world's busiest terminals. For the next two hours, there was an attack roughly every 15 minutes — the Jewish center, a tourist restaurant, one hotel, then another, and two attacks on hospitals. There were 10 targets in all.
Analysts around the world were debating whether the gunmen could have been tied to — or inspired by — al-Qaida.
"It's clear that it is al-Qaida style," but probably not carried out by the group's militants, said Rohan Gunaratna, of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore and author of "Inside Al-Qaida."
Indian media reports said a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility in e-mails to several media outlets. The Deccan is a region in southern India that was traditionally ruled by Muslim kings.
Survivors of the hotel attacks said the gunmen had specifically targeted Britons and Americans.
One of the gunmen "stopped once and asked, 'Where are you from? Any British or American? Show your ID," Alex Chamberlain, a British citizen dining at the Oberoi, told reporters.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. Relations between Hindus, who make up more than 80 percent of India's 1 billion population, and Muslims, who make up about 14 percent, have sporadically erupted into bouts of sectarian violence since British-ruled India was split into independent India and Pakistan in 1947.