101 killed in Mumbai violence, curfew imposed

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   MUMBAI: Teams of gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, a crowded train station and a Jewish group's headquarters in India's financial capital, killing at least 101people, taking Westerners hostage and leaving parts of the city under siege Thursday, police said.
   
   A group of suspected Muslim militants claimed responsibility. Police and gunmen were exchanging occasional gunfire at two luxury hotels and dozens of people were believed held hostage or trapped in besieged buildings.
   
   Pradeep Indulkar, a senior official at the Maharashtra state Home Ministry said 101 people were killed and 287 injured.
   
   Officials said at least eight militants had also been killed since the overnight attacks that targeted at least 10 separate sites began around 9:30 p.m.
   
   Gunmen also seized the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch, the New York-based group said.
   
   Indian commandos surrounded the building in the morning, and media reports said gunfire was heard from the building.
   
   Police loudspeakers declared a curfew around Mumbai's landmark Taj Mahal hotel, and black-clad commandos ran into the building as fresh gunshots rang out from the area, apparently the beginning of an assault on gunmen who had taken hostages in the hotel.
   
   mbulances were seen driving up to the entrance to the hotel andjournalists were made to move even further back from the area.Soldiers outside the hotel said forces were moving slowly, from roomto room, looking for gunmen and traps.
   
   A series of explosions had rocked the Taj Mahal just after midnight. Screams were heard and black smoke billowed from the century-old edifice on Mumbai's waterfront.
   
   Early Thursday, state home secretary Bipin Shrimali said four suspects had been killed in two incidents in Mumbai when they tried to flee in cars, and Roy said four more gunmen were killed at the Taj Mahal. State Home Minister R.R. Patil said nine more were arrested. They declined to provide any further details.
   
   ``We're going to catch them dead or alive,'' Patil told reporters. ``An attack on Mumbai is an attack on the rest of the country.''
   
   The state government ordered schools and colleges and the Bombay Stock Exchange closed Thursday.
   
   Police reported hostages being held at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, two of the best-known upscale destinations in this crowded but wealthy city.
   
   Officials at Bombay Hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a Japanese man had died there and nine Europeans had been admitted, three of them in critical condition with gunshots. All had come from the Taj Mahal, the officials said.
   
   Early Thursday, several European lawmakers were among people who barricaded themselves inside the Taj, a century-old seaside hotel complex and one of the city's best-known destinations.

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