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Terrorist attack on Mumbai kills up to 100 as gunmen storm hotels, take hostages
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24714370-401,00.html
AT least one Australians is dead, two others have been shot and another is unaccounted for after gunmen lobbed grenades into crowds and opened fire with machine guns in India's financial capital Mumbai today
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned there could be more Australian casualties.
Officials said they were checking unconfirmed reports two Australians may have been killed in the simultaneous attacks on two luxury hotels, a restaurant, a railway station and other city sites.
Australian man Braid Gilbert Taylor, 49, is among more than 100 killed, the Press Trust of India said.
Among the foreign dead confirmed so far are a Japanese man, an Italian and a Briton.
A young Sydney woman has undergone surgery after she was shot through the leg, the bullet shattering her femur.
Her boyfriend from Townsville suffered flesh wounds from bullets that grazed his leg.
Survivors have said the attacks were targeted at Westerners, with gunmen rounding up terrified tourists and demanding to know their nationalities.
Mr Rudd described the attacks as murderous and said little was known about the Deccan Mujahedeen, the group claiming responsibility for the attacks.
"But whichever group has perpetrated this attack, they are cowards, absolute cowards and murderers," he said.
Mr Rudd joined a chorus of condemnation, as images of blood pooled on the floor at Mumbai's main Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station and at the five-star Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels filled news bulletins.
Officials said one member of a 12-person New South Wales Government trade mission, which had been staying at the Oberoi Trident, remained unaccounted for.
Another of the delegates, Garrick Harvison, an export manager for winery Yarraman Estate, was holed up in his hotel room waiting to be rescued.
Australians in Mumbai
Actress Brooke Satchwell has told how she escaped the rampaging terrorists by spending an hour hiding in a hotel toilet before racing past dead bodies as she ran into the street.
Cricket Australia has called off a tour to India by Australian cricketers for the Champions Twenty20 League next week.
It confirmed that the hotel at the centre of the attacks was to be home to players competing in the upcoming Champions League, including Shane Warne.
A group of 20 Australians who were staying at the Oberoi hotel were evacuated but there have been no further details on their wellbeing.
And Adelaide woman Chloe Papazahariakis who was about to marry a Bollywood star in Mumbai spoke of the carnage she had seen.
Police in siege with gunmen
Police said they had shot dead four gunmen and arrested nine suspects.
A militant holed up inside Mumbai's Oberoi Hotel said that seven attackers were holding hostages inside the luxury establisment.
"There are seven of us inside hotel Oberoi," the man identified as Sahadullah told India TV.
"We want all Mujahideens held in India released and only after that we will release the people."
The hostage situation was declared ended at the Taj Hotel.
"People who were held up there, they have all been rescued," Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy told the NDTV news channel.
"But there are guests in the rooms, we don't know how many."
Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said there were around four or five attackers in each of the two hotels.
"They have attacked hotels, they have attacked the hospitals, they have attacked the railway station," he said.
"The terrorists are throwing grenades at us from the rooftop of the Taj and trying to stop us from moving in," police Inspector Ashok Patil said.
At least two guests, trapped in their rooms in the Taj, phoned TV stations. One said the firedoors were locked, another said he had seen two dead bodies by the swimming pool.
"Two of my colleagues are still in there and the last we heard from them was three hours ago and then the phone battery died," said a German national who escaped the Taj.
"We don't know where they are."
Police said at least 250 people were wounded in the attacks which also targeted a railway station and the Cafe Leopold, perhaps the most famous restaurant and hang-out for tourists in the city.
Boyfriend hero
The father of Kate Anstee, the Sydney woman shot as she dined at Mumbai's Cafe Leopold, has praised the heroic actions of her boyfriend David Coker.
Chris Anstee said the 24-year-old could have died had Mr Coker, 23, not carried her to safety.
"They were just sitting there and a whole lot of guys, four or five guys, just opened fire with machine guns,'' Mr Anstee said.
"Dave has been very quick-witted and level-headed. He grabbed Kate and picked her up.''
Mr Coker's father John said his son had told him how the scene played out.
"He lay on top of her until the shooting stopped and then picked her up and carried her outside and saw a gunman about 15 metres away and said he'll never forget the look - (he) looked at him and (the gunman) looked at David and he said 'he didn't shoot me dad'.''
The couple had only been in Mumbai for a few hours when gunmen attacked.
Ms Anstee has undergone surgery on her shattered leg. She will remain in intensive care while doctors wait for her condition to stabilise before they operate again.
Mr Coker is also in hospital after suffering minor bullet and shrapnel wounds.
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