Mumbai: Maharashtra Police and Indian Army personnel launched a massive manhunt early on Thursday morning to nab some of the terrorists, who have fled, responsible for the deadly terror attack on Mumbai. The terrorists are reportedly associated with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), a militant group based in Pakistan.
Police officials have also released the registration number of the cars in which the terrorists fled. The numbers are MH012 A1202 and MH01 BA 5179. Anybody having information of these cars can report sighting at 022-2937755, 24937747.
A suspected terrorist is being interrogated, who was held this morning. He is said to be associated with LeT.
Meanwhile, the death toll is climbing steadily. The latest figure is close to 100 among who are nine foreigners. The attack has also left over 300 people injured.
The terrorists were reported to be holding tourists and other guests as hostage at the Taj Intercontinental and at the Trident, two five-star hotels located on the city’s waterfront across the Arabian Sea and close to the Gateway of India.
A team of the National Security Guards (NSG) is already inside the Taj Intercontinental where the holed-up terrorists had hurled grenades and resorted to indiscriminate fire.
All roads linking south Mumbai with the rest of the metropolis have been barricaded. The Elite Rapid Action Force (RAF) has been pressed into action and the targeted locations have been cordoned off.
A nationwide alert has been sounded and all airports in the country have been put on high-security surveillance following the attacks.
Recalling the incident, the authorities said that apparently small groups of heavily armed terrorists sneaked into busy public places, mostly in south Mumbai, in the dead of the night with the intention of spreading panic in the crowded metropolis. They said that most of the places targeted were in upscale south Mumbai, a favourite destination of foreign tourists.
Suspected terrorists also opened indiscriminate firing near the railway station, the headquarters of the Central Railway, which remains crowded almost throughout the day. As a precautionary measure, authorities suspended suburban and other railway services.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh described the serial blasts and the ongoing encounter with terrorists at the two hotels in the city as the “most audacious attack”.
“It is a very serious situation and gun battles are still on in at least three places,” said Deshmukh, adding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had called him and expressed concern over the incident.
He strongly condemned the terror strikes and asked people not to believe rumors.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Ghafoor said the attacks were suspected to be “co-ordinated terrorist acts”, and added that automatic weapons like AK-47 and AK-56 and semi-automatic rifles as well as grenades were used.
Two bomb blasts, one in Vile Parle, a residential suburb in north Mumbai, and another in Mazgaon, also injured an unspecified number of people, the police officials said.
Later, firing also took place near the Metro Cinema. Eyewitnesses said the attackers hijacked a police vehicle after opening fire at two policemen in the vehicle.
News Source:apakistannews.com
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