Night Of Terror: Gunmen Kill 104 In India

A trickle of bodies and hostages emerged from a luxury hotel Thursday as Indian commandoes tried to free people trapped by suspected Muslim militants who attacked at least 10 targets in India's financial capital of Mumbai, killing 104 people.

More than 300 were also wounded in the highly coordinated attacks Wednesday night by bands of gunmen who invaded two five star hotels, a popular restaurant, a crowded train station, a Jewish center and at least five other sites, armed with assault rifles, hand grenades and explosives.

India has seen terrorism before, but nothing on this scale, reported CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar. Nothing as sophisticated as this, nothing that would have required this level of planning, reconnaissance and coordination.

A previously unknown Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for the carnage, the latest in a series of nationwide terror attacks over the past three years that have dented India's image as an industrious nation galloping toward prosperity.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed "external forces."

"The well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of panic, by choosing high profile targets and indiscriminately killing foreigners," he said in address to the nation.

MacVicar reported that at least some of the gunmen were thought to have arrived in Mumbai by sea. Video showing several small, inflatable boats was played on Indian news channels. The navy were reportedly searching for a "mother ship."

The navy said Thursday afternoon its forces were boarding a cargo vessel suspected of ties to the attacks. Navy spokesman Capt. Manohar Nambiar said the ship, the MV Alpha, had recently come to Mumbai from Karachi, Pakistan.

Nambiar said the navy has "located the ship and now we are in the process of boarding it and searching it." He gave no other details on the ship.

Among the dead from the rampage were at least one Australian, a Japanese and a British national, said Pradeep Indulkar, a senior government official of Maharashtra state, whose capital is Mumbai. The Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome said an Italian was also killed.

Indulkar said 101 people were killed and 314 injured. Officials said eight militants had also been killed.

The Bush administration continued to monitor the coordinated terrorist attacks but said it was not aware of any American casualties, despite witness reports that Westerners were specifically targeted.

"The United States condemns this terrorist attack and we will continue to stand with the people of India in this time of tragedy," White House press secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday. "President Bush offers his condolences to the Indian people and the families of the innocent civilians killed and injured in the attacks."

A statement on the U.S. Embassy's Web site warned Americans not to travel to India if at all possible "for at least the next 48-72 hours." It also offered information for Americans inside India, or those at home worried about family members in the south Asian country:

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.

"The United States must continue to strengthen our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks," Anderson added.

The most high-profile target was the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, a landmark of Mumbai luxury since 1903, and a favorite watering hole of the city's elite.

The attackers, dressed in black shirts and jeans, stormed into the hotel at about 9:45 p.m. and opened fire indiscriminately.

"I was in the main lobby and there was all of a sudden a lot of firing outside," said Sajjad Karim, part of a delegation of European lawmakers visiting Mumbai before a European Union-India summit.

Suddenly "another gunmen appeared in front of us, carrying machine gun-type weapons. And he just started firing at us ... I just turned and ran in the opposite direction," he told The Associated Press over his mobile phone.

Australian Greg Plunkett, 61, said he thought the noise of gunfire was breaking glass.

He said he saw an elderly woman cradling her husband's head in her lap. "He was pretty badly hit," Plunkett said. "There was plenty of blood."

The shooting was followed by a series of explosions that set fire to parts of the century-old edifice on Mumbai's waterfront. Screams were heard and black smoke and flames billowed, continuing to burn until dawn.

The gunmen also seized the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch and attacked the Oberoi Hotel, another five-star landmark.

Indian police said the hostage situation at the Taj Mahal was over, but many guests were still thought to be trapped inside their rooms, local journalist Mirhi Joshi told CBS News partner network Sky News.

Indian commandos had surrounded the other two buildings and were attempting to wrest control from gunmen still holding unknown numbers of foreign and Indian hostages inside.

Among those held captive were Americans, British, Italians, Swedes, Canadians, Yemenis, New Zealanders, a Singaporean and Israelis."We're going to catch them dead or alive," Maharashtra Home Minister R. R. Patil told reporters. "An attack on Mumbai is an attack on the rest of the country."

Gunfire and explosions were heard from the Taj Mahal, the Oberoi and the Chabad facility.

Police loudspeakers declared a curfew around the Taj Mahal hotel, and black-clad commandos ran into the building as fresh gunshots rang out from the area.

Soldiers outside the hotel said the operation would take a long time as forces were moving slowly, from room to room, looking for gunmen and traps. Every body found had to be checked by sniffer dogs, said one senior officer on condition of anonymity.

In the afternoon, bodies and hostages slowly emerged from the building. At least three bodies, covered in white cloth, were wheeled out.

At the nearby Oberoi hotel, soldiers could be seen on the roof of neighboring buildings. A banner hung out of one window read "save us." From the road, no one could be seen inside the room.

At least three top Indian police officers - including the chief of the anti-terror squad - were among those killed, said and A.N. Roy, a top police official.

Alex Chamberlain, a British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi, told Sky News television that a gunman ushered 30 to 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and, speaking in Hindi or Urdu, ordered everyone to put up their hands.

"They were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said: 'Where are you from?" and he said he's from Italy and they said 'fine' and they left him alone. And I thought: 'Fine, they're going to shoot me if they ask me anything - and thank God they didn't," he said.

Chamberlain said he managed to slip away as the patrons were forced to walk up stairs, but he thought much of the group was being held hostage.

The motive for the onslaught was not immediately clear, but Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic extremists, including a series of bombings in July 2006 that killed 187 people.

An Indian media report said a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attacks in e-mails to several media outlets. There was no way to verify that claim.

CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reported that U.S. terror officials had not heard of Deccan Mujahideen before Wednesday. The attacks did bear some frightening hallmarks of al Qaeda; a number of attackers working across multiple targets simultaneously, resulting in a high death count.

But, al Qaeda has not been known in the past for taking hostages or inviting police confrontations, reported Orr. While al Qaeda has shown a clear preference for suicide missions and improvised explosive devices, Wednesday's attackers used assault weapons and grenades.

Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism specialist with the Swedish National Defense College, told the AP, however, that there are "very strong suspicions" that the coordinated Mumbai attacks have a link to al Qaeda.

He said the fact that Britons and Americans were singled out is one indicator, along with the coordinated style of the attacks.

"There have been a lot of warnings about India lately and there are very strong suspicions of a link to al Qaeda."

Mumbai, on the western coast of India overlooking the Arabian Sea, is home to splendid Victorian architecture built during the British Raj and is one of the most populated cities in the world with some 18 million crammed into shantytowns, high rises and crumbling mansions.

Among the other places attacked was the 19th century Chhatrapati Shivaji railroad station - a beautiful example of Victorian Gothic architecture - where gunmen sprayed bullets into the crowded terminal, leaving the floor splattered with blood.

"They just fired randomly at people and then ran away. In seconds, people fell to the ground," said Nasim Inam, a witness.

India has been wracked by bomb attacks the past three years, which police blame on Muslim militants intent on destabilizing this largely Hindu country. Nearly 700 people have died.

Since May a militant group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen has taken credit for a string of blasts that killed more than 130 people. The most recent was in September, when explosions struck a park and crowded shopping areas in the capital, New Delhi, killing 21 people and wounding about 100.