India shaken by Mumbai attacks

Friday, 28th November 2008

Written by Francesca Cookney

All eyes have turned to India as its financial capital Mumbai is hit by a series of deadly bombings and shootings in some seven locations across the city.

Late on Wednesday night, gunmen began the apparently coordinated attacks in two of Mumbai's biggest hotels as well as its central railway station, a hospital and a restaurant. Over 100 people were killed and another 300 more injured when terrorists opened fire in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and the Oberoi Trident hotel, hurling grenades through upper floor windows.

Local TV images showed a city in turmoil with streets splattered with blood and bodies being taken away in ambulances. Farzed Jehani owns backpacker hotspot, the Leopold Café.

"Two people from the outside started firing into the premises," he told the BBC. "A grenade was thrown into the restaurant which, yes, blew [up]. Two of my waiters died. There was around five or six tourist bodies lying on the floor, as well as five or six Indian people who were lying on the floor, dead."

Within hours of the attacks, responsibility was claimed by a group who call themselves the Deccan Mujahideen. Previously unheard of, it has been suggested that this may be a hoax or else a false name. Four of the suspected terrorists have been killed and nine arrested.

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