Mumbai police have ended the standoff at the Oberoi Hotel more than 40 hours after it began, rescuing hostages and killing two of the terrorists described as showing "no remorse" in the attack that left at least 125 people dead.
An unidentified guest gives a thumb's up sign Friday inside a bus after being rescued from the Oberoi Hotel.
1 of 2 However, standoffs continued at the Taj Mahal Hotel -- where one gunmen is still holed up -- and Chabad House, where several Jewish people are believed to be held hostage by two to three gunmen.
Police said two terrorists had been killed at the Oberoi and 30 bodies recovered. Officers were going from floor-to-floor to check for victims.
Relieved guests, many of them foreigners and some children, hugged one another before boarding buses and vans brought in to take them away.
Meanwhile, an Indian commando told reporters outside the Taj that the terrorists fired at hotel guests "with no remorse," and knew the layout of the hotels well enough to "vanish" after confronting security forces.
"Not everybody can fire the AK series of weapons, not everybody can throw a grenade like that," the commando said. "It is obvious that they were trained somewhere."
Minutes after he spoke, fresh firing broke out at the Taj, sending reporters and onlookers ducking for cover.
Elsewhere, in a city already on edge, false rumors of shots fired at a railway station and a nearby hospital sent panicked people scrambling while police with guns converged en masse.
Meanwhile, sharpshooters kept up a steady stream of fire at the building housing the Chabad House, where several Jewish people are believed to be held hostage.
Hours earlier, a shell-shocked city awoke to television images of Indian soldiers rappelling down ropes from military choppers on to the roofs of Chabad House.
Special report: Attacks in Mumbai
Authorities said the death toll from the coordinated attacks carried out on at least seven sites Wednesday night was 146, including at least six foreigners and 14 police officers, with 327 people wounded.
Army Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj said at least one gunman -- possibly more -- could still be inside the Taj, holding two or more hostages. All remaining hostages and guests would be rescued by midday, he said. Listen to Israel's response »
"It is possible that some of the hotel guests have locked themselves in and for their own security and safety -- even though we have identified ourselves -- they are not opening the doors."
Outside the Oberoi hotel, onlookers cheered as about 90 guests, including at least one infant, were escorted out from the hotel premises and quickly herded into waiting vans. Many of them appeared to be foreigners.
But the euphoria was short-lived as a hotel spokesman clarified that the evacuees were guests at the Trident hotel, which is connected to the Oberoi by a common corridor.
The Italian foreign ministry said among the group were five of seven Italians who had been held hostage, including the wife of the hotel's Italian chef and her infant. Also in the group were several flight attendants working for Lufthansa and Air France, the foreign ministry said.
Two dozen soldiers landed on the rooftop of the Chabad House building Friday morning, with gunfire and at least 10 explosions heard soon after.
Police did not have a clear picture of how many gunmen remained or how many hostages they were holding inside the building, also known as the Nariman House. It is the Mumbai headquarters of the Chabad, an Hasidic Jewish movement.
International hot lines
India: Mumbai: JJ Hospital, 91 22 2373-5555; Mumbai: St. George Hospital, 91 98 6905-0622; Mumbai: Police control room, 91 22 2262-5020, 91 22 2262-1855; New Delhi: Indian External Affairs Ministry: +91-11-23015300
Australia: Department of Foreign Affairs offers these numbers: In Australia: 1-800-002 214. Australians overseas, call 61 2 6261-3305.
UK: The British Ministry of Foreign Affairs is directing concerned UK nationals to call 44 (0)20 7008-0000
U.S.: The State Department has established a Consular Call Center: The number is 888-407-4747.
Canada:
For Canadians in India call 1-800-387-3124. In Canada call 613-996-8885.
Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, the city's envoy for the Chabad community, and his wife were believed inside. A cook at the center, who had barricaded herself in a room, grabbed the couple's 2-year-old son and escaped with another person, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
In a nationally televised address on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the attackers were foreigners but did not specify where they were from.
The identity of the attackers remains a mystery. Police say the attackers came by boats to the waterfront near the Gateway of India monument and the two hotels.
The Indian navy, stepping up patrols on the country's western coast after the attack, was questioning the crew of the MV Alpha, a ship they detained with the help of the Indian coast guard. Authorities suspect the attacks originated from this ship, which they believe came from Karachi, Pakistan.
Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmad said they had no evidence the attackers departed from there.
And Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in a telephone call to his Indian counterpart Friday, said he would send the chief of his country's intelligence agency to assist with the investigation.
Gilani made the offer after Singh indicated the gunmen may have come from Karachi, said Gilani's spokesman Zahid Bashir.
State media Press Trust of India, citing Union Cabinet Minister Kapil Sibal, reported the gunmen had worked for months to prepare, even setting up "control rooms" in the two luxury hotels.
The Indian authorities said no one had claimed responsibility, but a group called the Deccan Mujahideen took credit in e-mails sent to several Indian news outlets.
Interpol said it would send a delegation to India.
"When such coordinated and planned terrorist attacks are carried out against international targets and when a country's head of government states there are suspected 'external linkages', the police in the country concerned require international assistance," said Interpol's Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.
An unidentified guest gives a thumb's up sign Friday inside a bus after being rescued from the Oberoi Hotel.
1 of 2 However, standoffs continued at the Taj Mahal Hotel -- where one gunmen is still holed up -- and Chabad House, where several Jewish people are believed to be held hostage by two to three gunmen.
Police said two terrorists had been killed at the Oberoi and 30 bodies recovered. Officers were going from floor-to-floor to check for victims.
Relieved guests, many of them foreigners and some children, hugged one another before boarding buses and vans brought in to take them away.
Meanwhile, an Indian commando told reporters outside the Taj that the terrorists fired at hotel guests "with no remorse," and knew the layout of the hotels well enough to "vanish" after confronting security forces.
"Not everybody can fire the AK series of weapons, not everybody can throw a grenade like that," the commando said. "It is obvious that they were trained somewhere."
Minutes after he spoke, fresh firing broke out at the Taj, sending reporters and onlookers ducking for cover.
Elsewhere, in a city already on edge, false rumors of shots fired at a railway station and a nearby hospital sent panicked people scrambling while police with guns converged en masse.
Meanwhile, sharpshooters kept up a steady stream of fire at the building housing the Chabad House, where several Jewish people are believed to be held hostage.
Hours earlier, a shell-shocked city awoke to television images of Indian soldiers rappelling down ropes from military choppers on to the roofs of Chabad House.
Special report: Attacks in Mumbai
Authorities said the death toll from the coordinated attacks carried out on at least seven sites Wednesday night was 146, including at least six foreigners and 14 police officers, with 327 people wounded.
Army Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj said at least one gunman -- possibly more -- could still be inside the Taj, holding two or more hostages. All remaining hostages and guests would be rescued by midday, he said. Listen to Israel's response »
"It is possible that some of the hotel guests have locked themselves in and for their own security and safety -- even though we have identified ourselves -- they are not opening the doors."
Outside the Oberoi hotel, onlookers cheered as about 90 guests, including at least one infant, were escorted out from the hotel premises and quickly herded into waiting vans. Many of them appeared to be foreigners.
But the euphoria was short-lived as a hotel spokesman clarified that the evacuees were guests at the Trident hotel, which is connected to the Oberoi by a common corridor.
The Italian foreign ministry said among the group were five of seven Italians who had been held hostage, including the wife of the hotel's Italian chef and her infant. Also in the group were several flight attendants working for Lufthansa and Air France, the foreign ministry said.
Two dozen soldiers landed on the rooftop of the Chabad House building Friday morning, with gunfire and at least 10 explosions heard soon after.
Police did not have a clear picture of how many gunmen remained or how many hostages they were holding inside the building, also known as the Nariman House. It is the Mumbai headquarters of the Chabad, an Hasidic Jewish movement.
International hot lines
India: Mumbai: JJ Hospital, 91 22 2373-5555; Mumbai: St. George Hospital, 91 98 6905-0622; Mumbai: Police control room, 91 22 2262-5020, 91 22 2262-1855; New Delhi: Indian External Affairs Ministry: +91-11-23015300
Australia: Department of Foreign Affairs offers these numbers: In Australia: 1-800-002 214. Australians overseas, call 61 2 6261-3305.
UK: The British Ministry of Foreign Affairs is directing concerned UK nationals to call 44 (0)20 7008-0000
U.S.: The State Department has established a Consular Call Center: The number is 888-407-4747.
Canada:
For Canadians in India call 1-800-387-3124. In Canada call 613-996-8885.
Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, the city's envoy for the Chabad community, and his wife were believed inside. A cook at the center, who had barricaded herself in a room, grabbed the couple's 2-year-old son and escaped with another person, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
In a nationally televised address on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the attackers were foreigners but did not specify where they were from.
The identity of the attackers remains a mystery. Police say the attackers came by boats to the waterfront near the Gateway of India monument and the two hotels.
The Indian navy, stepping up patrols on the country's western coast after the attack, was questioning the crew of the MV Alpha, a ship they detained with the help of the Indian coast guard. Authorities suspect the attacks originated from this ship, which they believe came from Karachi, Pakistan.
Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmad said they had no evidence the attackers departed from there.
And Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in a telephone call to his Indian counterpart Friday, said he would send the chief of his country's intelligence agency to assist with the investigation.
Gilani made the offer after Singh indicated the gunmen may have come from Karachi, said Gilani's spokesman Zahid Bashir.
State media Press Trust of India, citing Union Cabinet Minister Kapil Sibal, reported the gunmen had worked for months to prepare, even setting up "control rooms" in the two luxury hotels.
The Indian authorities said no one had claimed responsibility, but a group called the Deccan Mujahideen took credit in e-mails sent to several Indian news outlets.
Interpol said it would send a delegation to India.
"When such coordinated and planned terrorist attacks are carried out against international targets and when a country's head of government states there are suspected 'external linkages', the police in the country concerned require international assistance," said Interpol's Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.
