agama paling damai didunia? Teddy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/27/mumbai-terror-attacks-india1 Randeep Ramesh and Daniel Pepper in Mumbai, Angela Balakrishnan and agencies guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 27 2008 10.38 GMT Article history Terror attacks in Mumbai Link to this video A gunman inside one of the Mumbai hotels holding dozens of hostages has demanded the release of "mujahideens" and Islamic militants held in Indian jails. The man, who identified himself as Sahadullah, told Indian TV by phone that he was one of seven attackers inside the Oberoi hotel. "Release all the mujahideens, and Muslims living in India should not be troubled." The man said he belonged to an Indian Islamist group seeking an end to the persecution of Indian Muslims. "We want all mujahideens held in India released and only after that we will release the people," he said. "Muslims in India should not be persecuted. We love this as our country but when our mothers and sisters were being killed, where was everybody?" he told the channel. The hotel is surrounded by army commandos. Randeep Ramesh reports from Mumbai Link to this audio Between 50 and 200 people are still being kept hostage in Mumbai after a coordinated series of attacks on luxury hotels, popular restaurants, a rail terminus and an ultra-orthodox Jewish centre. British and Americans were sought out by the hostage-takers. Israelis were also among those held, a television channel reported. Police said a rabbi was being held in a Mumbai apartment. Witnesses said the attackers were young south Asian men in their early 20s, most likely Indians, and spoke Hindi or Urdu. The Maharashtra state police chief, AN Roy, said earlier that the hostage situation had ended at the Taj Mahal hotel but that there were still apparently hostages in the Oberoi hotel. Indian commandos have been sending out bodies and hostages from the Taj hotel. "No negotiations or talks have started with the terrorists," the Maharashtra state deputy chief minister, RR Patil, told reporters outside. Patil said television signals to both hotels had been switched off to prevent the hostage-takers getting wind of any operations to storm the buildings. The death toll in the attack has risen to 101 with more than 300 people injured. Police and gunmen exchanged heavy gunfire early this morning, and some people managed to flee the Taj hotel, which had its roof destroyed by fire through the night. At the nearby Oberoi hotel, soldiers could be seen on the roof of neighbouring buildings. A banner hanging out of one window read "Save us". "We did not know anything, we just heard gunshots. It was a long night for us," said Nasim Desai, a South African visiting her family in India. Indian television reported that a Singaporean woman called her embassy and asked Indian security forces not to attack the Oberoi or the terrorists would kill her. Officials at a Bombay hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a Japanese man had died there and nine Europeans had been admitted, three of them in a critical condition with gunshot wounds. All had come from the Taj hotel, the officials said. Terrorist gunmen seized the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch. Indian commandos surrounded the building this morning and witnesses said gunfire could be heard from inside. A spokesman for the Lubavitch movement in New York, Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, said attackers "stormed the Chabad house" in Mumbai. "It seems that the terrorists commandeered a police vehicle which allowed them easy access to the area of the Chabad house and threw a grenade at a gas pump nearby," he said. A witness said three people were killed in the attack, but the account could not be confirmed. The home secretary for Maharashtra state, Bipin Shrimali, said four suspects had been killed at two battle scenes in Mumbai when they tried to flee in cars, while four more gunmen were reported killed at the Taj Mahal hotel. Officials said nine more had been arrested, giving no further details. An Indian media report said a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the attacks in emails to several media outlets. There was no way to verify that claim. Dr George Kassimeris, an expert in conflict and terrorism at the University of Wolverhampton, said the terrorists behind the coordinated attacks had followed a "blueprint" created by al-Qaida. Professor Richard Bonney, the author of Jihad: From Qu'ran To Bin Laden, said: "This attack looks more dangerous and better planned, though not directed against possible government targets but economic ones and of course the western allies." Mumbai was today a ghost town, with the normally chaotic and crowded streets eerily still. The only movement was by police, army and commando units making their way through labyrinthine back alleys. The state government ordered schools and colleges and the Bombay stock exchange to close for the day. "We blame the intelligence - the government spends so much money and nothing happens. Then these people come and do whatever they want," said one local resident, Richard Madhavan, 34. Many Mumbai residents have experienced violence before, either bombings or the occasional gunfight between mobsters and police. There have been regular attacks blamed on Islamist militants, including a series of bombings in July 2006 that killed 187 people. "Bombay's streets are used to violence," said Dinesh Bhandari, 41. "Tomorrow we'll be back to work." • The Foreign Office has advised people concerned about British friends and relatives in India to call +44 (0)20-7008 0000.
