Mumbai death toll nears 200

Authorities in Mumbai said today the death toll from the three-day terror attacks had risen to 195 as more bodies were discovered when commandos ended the siege at a luxury hotel.

Shantaram Jadhav, of Mumbai’s disaster control office, said 195 people had been killed and 295 wounded.

He said: “The death toll is likely to rise because there are still bodies in our vans that are being brought into hospitals.”

Indian commandos killed the last remaining gunmen at the Taj Mahal hotel early today, ending the 60-hour rampage through India’s financial capital by suspected Islamic militants.

Orange flames and black smoke engulfed the landmark 565-room hotel after dawn as Indian special forces ended the siege in a hail of gunfire, hours after the commandos stormed a Jewish centre and found six hostages dead.

The violence started when more than a dozen terrorists attacked 10 sites across Mumbai on Wednesday. Fifteen foreigners, including one Briton, were among the dead.

“The Taj operation is over. The last two terrorists holed up there have been killed,” Mumbai police chief Hasan Ghafoor said.

JK Dutt, director general of India’s elite National Security Guard commando unit, said outside the hotel that his forces would continue to search and clear the building.

With the end of one of the most brazen terror attacks in India’s history, attention turned from the military operation to questions of who was behind the attack and the heavy toll on human life.

The bodies of New York rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah were found at the Jewish centre. Their son Moshe, two, was scooped up by an employee on Thursday as she fled the building.

Authorities scrambled to identify those responsible for the unprecedented attack, with Indian officials pointing across the border at rival Pakistan, and Pakistani leaders promising to co-operate in the investigation. A team of FBI agents was ordered to fly to India to help investigate.

Yesterday, commandos killed the last two gunmen inside the luxury Oberoi hotel, where 24 bodies had been found. Dozens of people – including a man clutching a baby and about 20 airline crew members – were evacuated from the Oberoi earlier.

As fighting stretched into a fourth day today, the Taj Mahal hotel was wracked by hours of intermittent gunfire and explosions, even though authorities said earlier they cleared it of gunmen.

Indian forces launched grenades and traded gunfire with what authorities believed was one or two militants holed up in the ballroom. What appeared to be a black-clad figure toppled from a first-floor window, but further details were unavailable.

By yesterday, at least nine gunmen had been killed and one arrested, said R Patil, a top official in Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is the capital.

In the most dramatic of the counter-strikes yesterday, masked Indian commandos dropped from a helicopter to the rooftop of the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish centre as snipers laid down cover fire.

For nearly 12 hours, explosions and gunfire erupted from the five-storey building as the commandos fought their way downward, while thousands of people gathered behind barricades in the streets to watch.

The assault blew huge holes in the centre, and, at one point, Indian forces fired a rocket at the building.

Soon after, commandos ran outside with their rifles raised over their heads in a sign of triumph.

But inside the Chabad House was a scene of tragedy.

Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak said the bodies of three women and three men were found at the centre. Some of the victims had been bound, he added.

Local reports, quoting top military officials, said two gunmen were found dead in the building.

The attackers were well-prepared, apparently scouting some targets ahead of time and carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy during a long siege. One backpack found contained 400 rounds of ammunition.

The gunmen moved skilfully through the blood-slicked corridors of the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, switching off lights to confuse the commandos.

Authorities were working to find out who was behind the attacks, claimed by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen.

US president-elect Barack Obama said he was closely monitoring the situation. “These terrorists who targeted innocent civilians will not defeat India’s great democracy, nor shake the will of a global coalition to defeat them,” he said.

India’s foreign minister said the blame appeared to point to Pakistan. “According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for Mumbai terror attacks,” Pranab Mukherjee told reporters.

Jaiprakash Jaiswal, India’s home minister, said a captured gunmen had been identified as a Pakistani.

And Mr Patil, the Maharashtra state official, said: “It is very clear that the terrorists are from Pakistan. We have enough evidence that they are from Pakistan.”

Pakistani defence minister Ahmed Mukhtar said yesterday: “I will say in very categoric terms that Pakistan is not involved in these gory incidents.”