Commandos Assault Besieged Hostage-Takers

Indian Forces Open Fire On Militants In Jewish Center; Terrorist Attacks Have Killed At Least 119

(CBS/AP)  Masked Indian commandos dropped from helicopters Friday onto the roof of a Jewish center in Mumbai where Muslim militants were holed up, possibly with hostages, as sharpshooters kept up a steady stream of fire at the five-story building.

The assault was punctuated by gunshots and explosions from within the building as the forces cleared the building floor-by floor. Elsewhere in the city, commandos scoured two luxury hotels for suspected Muslim attackers still holed up more than a day after a chain of attacks across India's financial center by the militants left at least 119 people dead.

The well-coordinated strikes by small bands of gunmen starting Wednesday night left the city shell-shocked, but the sporadic gunfire and explosions at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels dwindled overnight, indicating the siege might be winding down.

At the headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch, a commando assault began shortly after dawn following a tense night in which six trucks of soldiers had been brought in to surround the building.

Snipers stationed in buildings opposite the center began the attack, with sustained fire on the building as at least nine commandos lowered themselves by rope onto the roof from a circling Indian air force helicopter.

Security forces searched the rooms at the hotels - two of the top gathering spots for the Mumbai elite - but there were no gunbattles or blasts. Commandos had spent much of Thursday bringing out hostages, trapped guests and corpses from the hotels in small groups while firefighters battled flames that erupted. The fires were out by Friday.

Dalbir Bains, who runs a lingerie shop in Mumbai, had just sat down for dinner by the pool when she heard the first shots. She ran upstairs and huddled under a table in the Sea Lounge restaurant. She, and about 50 others who were with her, tried to remain as quiet as possible.

"The gun shots were following us," said Bains.

State officials said 119 people had died and 288 were injured in the 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.

Ratan Tata, who runs the company that owns the elegant Taj Mahal, said they appeared to have scouted their targets in advance.

"They seem to know their way around the back office, the kitchen. There has been a considerable amount of detailed planning," he told a news conference.

The Maharashtra state home ministry said dozens of hostages had been freed from the Oberoi and dozens more were still trapped inside. More than 400 people were brought out of the Taj Mahal on Thursday.

Authorities said they had killed three gunmen at the Taj.

It remained unclear just how many people had been taken hostage, how many were hiding inside the hotels and how many dead still lay uncounted.

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.

There were conflicting reports about hostages at the Jewish center. A diplomat closely monitoring the site said people were still being held there, though an Indian state official said earlier eight hostages had been released. Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

On Thursday morning, a woman, child and an Indian cook were led out of the building by police, said one witness. The child was identified as Moshe Holtzberg, 2, the son of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, the main representative at Chabad house. The child was unharmed, but his clothes were soaked in blood.

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.

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.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert McInturff said U.S. officials have been checking with Indian authorities and hospitals to learn the extent of casualties involving Americans. He said Thursday that U.S. officials also have called American citizens who registered with the U.S. consulate there.

From the U.S. Embassy, New Delhi, India:

Those currently in Mumbai are asked to take shelter at their current location and contact family and friends. American citizens in need of assistance related to the terrorist attacks should call the Department of State Mumbai Task Force at 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or, for callers in other areas, by calling a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.

McInturff also said the U.S. government has no information that any U.S. citizens died in the attacks and said that he could not identify those who were injured.

A Virginia man and his daughter are among the Americans still missing, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier. Alan Scherr and his 13-year-old daughter Naomi were part of a 25-member spiritual retreat. The other 23 have been accounted for.

[centerfall94]

Among those schooled in terrorism, there''''s absolutely no doubt that this was carried out by Islamic radicals. Of course, that''''s not exactly a wild bet or risky theory, since over 99% of terrorist attacks in the last 10 years have been committed by Islamic radicals.
Once again, the so-called "religion of peace" has delivered a nice present to the world for this holiday season: another giant pile of bodies.
www.jihadwatch.org


Posted by michaelt5555 at 02:47 AM

Maybe it''s time for another round of christian radicals, remember the Crusades?

Face it, no matter the flavor, religion poisons everything.

[liberty4you]

The attacks could have been done by anyone.

Reports from India are suggesting that it could be part of Radical Mafia groups getting revenge on the India Navy''s responses in Somalia and then by blaming them on the ISI or Mosoud.

They were well coordinated, militaristic operational, therefore they would have to have some form of inside knowledge of the tactics of the military.

The Indian intelligence terrorism chief was killed.

[juwboy]

MikeTotten1:

When Hitler came to power, one of his first acts was the elimination of his political opponents -- Socialists, Communists, Marxists, Trotskyites, labor leaders and other left-wingers.

Next he turned his attention to the group he considered the greatest threat to the purity of his glorious German Master Race.

It wasn`t the Jews.

Or the gipsies.

Or homosexu@ls.

It was the mentally-retarded and feeble-minded.

Idiots, imbeciles, half-wits, simpletons, morons and cretins.

People just like you, MikeTotten1.

[yongamerica]

There is Iranian and/or Syrian influence in these attacks. This is a large scaled military style commando raid with a suicidal intent. The Taliban has been receiving training and arms from Iran for sometime now. This attempt to spread their holy war against non Muslims will be their undoing, the Taliban, Syria and Iran.

[whitewolf60]

Why won''t SOMEBODY get some kajonies and tell these radical islam idiots to GROW THE F*** UP????

[kretosdav]

HA HA HA LOL !

Al Cia-da kills muslims pay !!!

stupid muslims

[mark_st]

Posted by yongamerica

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has hailed Iran''s support for the Afghan nation, dismissing claims that Iran is supporting militants.

%u201CThere has been no evidence to prove that Iran has been supporting Afghan militants,%u201D he said in a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Kabul on Wednesday.

%u201CIran has so far provided Afghanistan with a high amount of aid,%u201D the Afghan President said.



http://www.indymedia-letzebuerg.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13351&Itemid=28



http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=76678&sectionid=351020101

[whitewolf60]

I think now at this point in time that it''s about time to tell these countries that if they CAN''T keep their radical islam factions UNDER CONTROL they will NO LONGER recieve any monetary OR food aid. We can use it here in the good ''ol USA....

[riptide213]

Religion is a widespread global meme.

It propagates and moves through cultural sociospheres in a manner similar to the contagious behavior of a virus.

Free world has no current strategy to deal with harmful affliction of the growing religion pandemic.

Only solution is a robust non profit, charity World Anti Religion Organization to coordinate eradication of all religion providing global leadership for non religion matters, shaping a non religion research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence based policy options, providing technical support to countries, monitoring religion contamination trends, and assessing hot spots of illicit faith activism.

In the 21st century, this new WAR organization mandate and responsibility would promote equitable access to essential non religion thought and collective defense against transnational any faith based threats.

A virulent and contagious human only infliction; religion comes in various antagonistic and infectious strains. No religion strain has yet crossed a species barrier; some pray for that day.

One symptom of religion involves overt or covert participation in holy wars.

Religion is the most common infection in humanity.

Many are actively or passively infected with one persistent strain or another. People with natural immunity are called atheists, and they can be identified by their ability and willingness to sometimes use rational thought.

No inoculation or cure has yet been identified.

[impeach___w]

I suppose the not very well-armed hijacked fishing trawler attacking their armed naval vessel wasn''t suspisious enough.

[spinproof]

The Host Nation India is responsible for providing adequate security for its foreign guest, especially in high profile areas with a large foreign presence. This is a "black eye" for India''s security. Others may have different opinions about who is responsible for providing security but the facilities attacked will be legally responsible for compensating their guest for their losses.

[lloydbest1]

"From the article, "...but there may have been another, broader dimension to these attacks."
Yeah. Like an Israeli one." Posted by MikeTotten1 at 02:51 AM : Nov 27, 2008

Or our own....The Bush/Cheney Axis is heavily invested in chaos. The more, the better. Does that mean I think they and their simian surrogates are directly responsible? No. I don''t but only because I don''t know enough yet to accuse. But, yeah, something stinks here and the stench is as likely to come from Washington as Tel Aviv or Tehran.
It is also interesting to note that these attacks have stepped up remarkably in co-ordination and intensity since Asif Ali Zardari took over the running of Pakistan. Zardari has done more than any other recent Pakistani head honcho to effect a reconcilation with India. Is it possible that certain powerful interests would resort to this sort of nonsense to derail such a reconciliation?
There is no doubt that this round of insurgency is well co-ordinated, well funded and nearly impossible to bring off without the cooperation of many various independantly operating (and often mutually antagonistic) terrorist cells. Could the Mossad have a hand in this? Certainly. So could the CIA. Or Russia''s new FSB. Iran''s Vavak may also be involved. It is even remotely possible that this garbage is exactly what it seems on the surface: an exceptionally well organized strike by disaffected nihilistic azzh*les who are hellbent of creating as much misery as possible.

[arbxxx]

Mike Totten
You are a f''ing idiot. Like Israel had something to do with this - India is an ally of Israel. You are obviously a stupid moron - go back to your cabin in the woods with your rifle and your beef jerky and blow your own brains out

[impeach___w]

Since you brought up Isreal, Tonight would be a good night to Attack Iran.

[babooph]

The 9-11 attack after many years of failed foreign policy got a cowardly respons from a freightened Bush-destroy the rights of all US citizens & the US constitution ,in a desperate attempt to protect him & his rich base.Now they all must live forever in guilded cages & gated comunities& are more unsafe than ever -WORLD WIDE!!!

[downsteamjim]

Islam had a banner day. Lots of innocent human sacrifices. To keep the religion pure, Indonesia is thinking about banning yoga.

[irmcvet97]

Islam had a banner day. Lots of innocent human sacrifices. To keep the religion pure, Indonesia is thinking about banning yoga.

Posted by downsteamjim at 08:42 AM : Nov 27, 2008

This is just a chance for you Religious NUT CASES to build a little hatred out there isn''t it? I SERIOUSLY don''t know WHICH scares me the most, them or our own home grown Taliban. Hard to decide!!

[irmcvet97]

The Host Nation India is responsible for providing adequate security for its foreign guest, especially in high profile areas with a large foreign presence. This is a "black eye" for India''''s security. Others may have different opinions about who is responsible for providing security but the facilities attacked will be legally responsible for compensating their guest for their losses.

Posted by spinproof at 08:04 AM : Nov 27, 2008

Well you know when you take advantage of that 30 Cent a Day Labor, there is always a down side. Here''s wishing all you greedy *** all the luck in the world!! LOL NOT!!

[downsteamjim]

Irmvet: Let me get this right. If you oppose senseless murder, you are a religious nut case.

[berniepeders]

When will we (the US military)learn to fight fire with fire? Attack these militant muslim extremists and give them a dose of their own medicine, only use your heads and don''t send humans in with explosives strapped to their backs, use drones or robots, and blow them all to hell! Keep it up until they quit or are exterminated.

[andrew_693]

fight fire with fire? ........................what do you all think we have been doing since 9-11? playing games? we killed thousands of them, we kill them every day, innocent or not, mostly by mistake and because we invaded iraq we helped al quaeda grow stronger and have more recruits. We should help the local government fight them, train their forces better now if they don''t want to do this than simply start taking the liberties of muslims away from our countries and start expelling them. As far as Iran goes, why not provide ballistic missiles to the israelis to take care of this problem.

[downsteamjim]

seis-6-seis: One time try not to be politically correct. Rewrite as "Senseless stupidity under the banner of Islam".

[mark_st]

who benefits ? %u0130srael !

who lose ? Muslims !

just like 9/11 7/7 etc.

[mark_st]

who benefits ? israel !

who lose ? Muslims !

just like 9/11 7/7 etc.

[whitemale08]

This was all an operation of British oligarchs who fund pirates, terrorists and you name it, in order to produce a chaotic un-governeable situation.

Like the movie "Children of Men", "Mad Max" and "Road Warrior", the idea is for the public to demand overwhelming military security in a New Dark Age of fuedalism and serfdom.

Now that Global Financial system is dead, the British Empire wants to maintain a control by going back to ''old-school'' rulership by force.

Folks, we can stop these idiots and instead choose a New Age of Renassaince where we are free of the bankers, usury, and this non-sense called ''globalization''.

All we have to do is STOP THE BAIL OUTS!!!!!!

[downsteamjim]

mark st: Your comments show that at least one turkey survived Thanksgiving.

[glock4me]

who benefits ? israel !

who lose ? Muslims !

just like 9/11 7/7 etc.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by mark_st at 09:19 AM : Nov 27, 2008



We could benefit by selling arms to either India, Pakistan, or both for the upcoming war.

World''s first nuclear war (where both sides have/use them)?

This could really help out our economic woes.

[marciazhat]

Senseless killing (for a change) from Muslim groups! What a shock!! But...

Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbors, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel''s part for whatever reason, the following two sentences really say it all:

If the Arabs put down their weapons today there would be no more violence.

If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.

[kretosdav]

who benefits ? israel !

who lose ? Muslims !

just like 9/11 7/7 etc.


----------------------------------
----------------------------------------
------

Posted by mark_st at 09:19 AM : Nov 27, 2008


exactly ..........

[downsteamjim]

Iwashungary: Your beautiful Islam religion is considering banning yoga in Indonesia to purify the religion, Malaya has already done so. Opposing the killing of innocents is not being considered. Like you, mainstream Islam has little if any problem with the murder of innocents.

[glock4me]

If the world were a kindergarden class, the muslims would definitely get a "Does not play well with others" on the report card. Can anyone think of a so-called hot spot where muslims aren''t involved. Only North Korea comes to mind.

[downsteamjim]

Marciazhat: Good point. Don''t forget Muslims killing innocents in Thailand, Philippines, and just about anywhere there are Muslims.

[downsteamjim]

Glock4me: A good experiment would be to send a few thousand muslims to N. Korea and see what happens.

[downsteamjim]

Iwashungary: A very similar line of thinking was taken by Hitler.

[downsteamjim]

Morph: You belong in Obama''s cabinet.

[downsteamjim]

Iwashungary: You must admit that you hate Christian religions but are willing to cut Islam lots of slack.

[pensacola98]

I warn the readers who accept the interpretation from the news source that this was an Islamic motivated crime. It was not.

For years, Ireland and Britan were in hostilities over a treaty that ceded counties in Ireland to Britan and fueld violence by the Irish Republican Army. It was misreported as a clash between Catholics and Protestants.

There are many instances where religious reasons are used by government sources for classifying the hostilities. This is common when govenment''s policy fails to keep peace and the government looks for a reason to explain away the cause for the hostilities.

Why do people accept religious reasons for hostilies so easily? The answer lies in education and a government''s quest for control. The closer people become to the reality of problems and their causes, the less control that governments feel they have over their people.

It is easier to use religion and its'' abstract rational to explain either two things: 1. The short sightedness of a policy, which a leader doesn''t want the followers to discover. 2. The inability of someone to explain behavior they couldn''t predict.

Saying that these people killed for religious reasons is like saying people take drugs for religious reasons. I don''t believe religion had anything to do with it.

[downsteamjim]

Iwashungary: So to you, Hitler was okay to kill jews, he just shouldn''t have used religion.

[mydiatribe]

No sane civilized society can sustain for very long this heinous evil purportrated against their innocent. Hatred ought not be met with hatred however unless every civilized country in this divided world unites and protects itself against this form of extremism it will continue. There can be no self imposed restrictions on fighting such a senseless
evil.
This MUST STOP whatever it costs.
No society permits its criminally insane to operate openly with impunity. They are customarily imprisoned, or neutralized. This is simply not a legitimate form of political protest. I''m sick of the moonbeams on the LEFT acting as though it were.

[Meg003]

Islam continues to pursue world dominance and the installation of Sharia law worldwide.

Some American Muslims would be fare poorly under Sharia law.

Sharia law demands caning for the use of alcoholic beverages, cutting off the hands of thieves, execution by crucification for highway robbery, the execution of homosexuals by crushing, severely whipping unmarried people who engage in fornication, stoning to death married people who have relations outside of marriage.

Leaving Islam, as Barack Obama did in the eyes of Muslims, for atheism or for Christianity is an offense punishable with the death penalty.

This religious fight isn''t being sought by the West; it is being aggressively pursued by Muslims.

[Meg003]

I believe that the commandos are part of organized crime designed to direct hostilities towards the wealthiest people in a land of deprived and hopelessness. Posted by Pensacola98


Pensacola, I''ve been to India, and I can tell you that Western tourists and businessmen are not the "wealthiest people" in India; not even close. There are truly fabulous estates and houses in Indian and unimaginably wealthy people.

[famulla-2009]

Sir
The Mumbai bombing is sad and unwanted as the Indian is a vibrant economy and could do more with the good news rather then the terrorism at this time. The Indians call this 9/11 in India. I witnessed this and I feel the whole issue is a very sad human history repeated itself. The Briton killed was apparently not the issue. It must have been the revenge. The TV states that the terrorists are demanding nothing but the revenge and they reason out %u201DIf you keep on killing us one by one we will too do the same%u201D The terrorist seem to be from the Islamist Jihads but no one knows for sure execute the plans was very cleverly executed. Each of the terrorist knew the doors and the entered very easily all the hospital, the hotels and other canters easily.
I thank you
Firozali A.Mulla

[mckkkain]

I''m surprised. I was expecting that the right wing wackos would be here blaming this all on Obama by now.

[mckkkain]

Morph: You belong in Obama''''s cabinet.

Posted by downsteamjim at 09:38 AM : Nov 27, 2008

--------------

Ooops, this one was close. downsteamshit couldn''t help but to say something disparaging about Obama.

[cbs_oliver]

The facts of this incident are not clear and most of what we are reading is wild speculation and opportunist propaganda.

Just getting an report of actual events and past history (which I gather is substantial) rather than attempting to asssign blame would be good.

[Meg003]

I''''m surprised. I was expecting that the right wing wackos would be here blaming this all on Obama by now.

Posted by McKKKain

Why would you think that? Though some have blamed President Bush for the conflict with Islamic terrorists, the reality is that the terrorists have been waging war for many years against the West.

President-elect Obama seems to understand that, and has plans of his own to continue the fight against our enemies. In fact I think he has some very good ideas about protecting the U.S. by destroying our enemies.

A president is not responsible for every problem or conflict that occurs, and cannot magically fix them overnight.

[mtminds]

morphndol is tripping earlier than usual today

[toolmangler-2009]

Face it, no matter the flavor, religion poisons everything.

Posted by Centerfall94 at 02:48 AM : Nov 27, 2008




Lets try it like this; "Man poisons everything, even religion"

[cbs_oliver]

FYI from BBC:

"The Mumbai attackers appeared South Asian and reportedly spoke Hindi."

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by CBS_Oliver at 10:27 AM : Nov 27, 2008




Tnx, Ollie