Death toll in Mumbai terror attacks rises to 155

[tekisui]

The number of dead in the audacious terrorist attacks in Mumbai since Wednesday night has gone up to 155, while the number of injured are more than 300, Maharashtra deputy chief minister and state home minister R.R. Patil said on Friday.

He also said that nine militants have been killed in the exchange of fire with security personnel at various places and one has been arrested. The detained terrorist is a Pakistani national. "He is a Pakistani national," Patil told reporters in Mumbai.

Fifteen policemen and two NSG personnel have lost their lives in anti-terror operations, said Patil.

Meanwhile, terrorists holed up inside the Nariman House were reportedly exchanging fire with NSG Commandos. The commandos were receiving fire from the ground floor and second floor of the building. Reports also said that smoke started belowing from Nariman House following several explosions even as the gunbattle at the location intensified.

NSG officer Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan was shot dead in operation against terrorists at Taj hotel. Firing was still raging at the Taj hotel, as at least one terrorist was still suspected to be holed up inside the luxury hotel. Earlier, multiple grenade blasts were heared at the Taj Hotel.

http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?storyId=85986&lmn=1

[dipsydoodle]

1. multiple grenade blasts

maybe these are stun grenades being used by the security forces ?

[cali]

2. I just heard the CNN reporter in Mumbai (and the blasts)

she said that the blasts were much louder than earier blasts that had been identified as grenade blasts, but who knows?

[tekisui]

5. Reporting on CNN-IBN says Indian military is firing

rocket propelled grenades into the Nariman House.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. As far as I can tell, many of the terrorists may have got away

I haven't been able to find anything saying precisely where the 9 were shot; but those who killed many at the railway station may well have escaped (and there was what seems to have been a grenade thrown in a taxi a few miles north of the city centre, out near the airport). One of the bags of a terrorist had several credit cards in, which seems to imply they wanted the possibility of making an escape (and not just out back to sea).

Even if all the gunmen involved in the siege/hostage situations at the 2 hotels and the Jewish centre are all accounted for, there's still the attack on the cafe, and an explosion near a shipyard, in addition to the 2 I mentioned above. Perhaps the men who did those attacks then went back to the hotels/centre; or perhaps they escaped.

[tekisui]

4. Gunmen still holed up in Taj and Nariman

Commandos are storming Nariman, could take some time. They are trying to end it at the Taj, as well.