Terror Siege Ends in Mumbai, Last Remaining Gunmen Killed
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Two and a half days after teams of suspected Islamist terrorists began their brutal attacks across India's financial capital, their final standoff at the Taj Mahal hotel is over after Indian commandos took the building by force and killed the last remaining gunmen holed up at the hotel.
Shantaram Jadhav, an official at Mumbai's disaster control office, says 195 people have been killed and 295 wounded. Jadhav says "the death toll is likely to rise because there are still bodies in our vans that are being brought into hospitals." Eighteen foreigners, including six Americans, were killed.
The hotel was the final terror hotspot Saturday morning, with Indian authorities already appearing to have regained control over the rest of the city after the wave of attacks launched late Wednesday night. Security officials told FOX News' sister network Sky News that all hostages had been freed from the hotel.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Even as the battle ended, Indians began burying their dead, many of them security force members killed fighting the gunmen.
In the southern city of Bangalore, black-clad commandos formed an honor guard as the flag-draped coffin of Maj. Gen. Unnikrishnan, who was killed in the fighting at the Taj, passed by. "He gave up his own life to save the others," said Dutt.
Bhushan Gagrani, the Maharashtra state government spokesman, told The Associated Press at least 11 gunmen had been killed and one captured alive after the attack that shook the city and the country.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Saturday the Indian navy said it was investigating whether a trawler found drifting off the coast of Mumbai, with a bound corpse on board, was used in the attack.
Navy spokesman Capt. Manohar Nambiar said the trawler, named Kuber, had been found Thursday and was brought to Mumbai. Officials said they believe the boat had sailed from a port in the neighboring state of Gujarat.
Indian security officers believe many of the gunmen may have reached the city using a black and yellow rubber dinghy found near the site of the attacks.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As daylight dawned Saturday, the sound of explosions and gunfire continued to emanate from inside the hotel, and a new fire broke out and raged through parts of the building's lower floors. Indian forces went through the large building room by room in an effort to root out the terrorists, and as the operation came to an end, India's NDTV reported, one terrorist was caught, another was killed and hand grenades and an AK-47 were recovered.
The lingering alarm there was a far cry from the broader, fast-evolving massacre that struck India's financial capital late Wednesday night. A little-known group calling itself Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility early on, though Indian authorities and some other security analysts are pointing fingers at a group or groups with roots in Pakistan.
"According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for Mumbai terror attacks," Pranab Mukherjee, India's foreign minister, told reporters in the western city of Jodhpur, though he declined to identify any evidence.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pakistan, India's cross-border rival, has denied that its government had anything to do with the attacks. Pakistani leaders have called on the two countries to work together to combat terrorism, and Pakistan has pledged to send its spy chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, to India to help probe the attacks.
Pakistan-Based Terrorists Suspected in Mumbai Attack
Orange flames and black smoke engulfed the landmark 565-room Taj Mahal hotel after dawn Saturday as Indian forces ended the siege there in a hail of gunfire, just hours after elite commandos stormed a Jewish center and found at least eight hostages dead.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The New York-based Chabad-Lubavitch movement confirmed Friday that two New Yorkers, Rabbi Zalman Schmotkin and his wife, Rivka, were among the dead. The couple's toddler son, Moshe Holtzberg, was taken out of the center by an employee and is now with grandparents.
Two more Americans, Alan Scherr, 58, and daughter Naomi, 13, were identified as being among the dead in the attacks, killed while in a Mumbai cafe Wednesday night. The pair were part of a meditation group called the Synchronicity Foundation that was visiting India. Two other Americans with the group were injured.
Virginia Father, Daughter Visiting India Killed in Terror Attacks
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Bush issued a statement on Friday, saying the wounded were in his thoughts and prayers.
"My administration has been working with the Indian government and the international community as Indian authorities work to ensure the safety of those still under threat. We will continue to cooperate against these extremists who offer nothing but violence and hopelessness," Bush said.
The FBI is sending a team of agents to India to help investigate, and a second group is on alert if needed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}PHOTO ESSAY: India Terror Attacks (WARNING: Graphic Images)
Indian security officials, meanwhile, declared the siege over Friday at the Oberoi hotel after commandos killed the two last gunmen inside.
"The hotel is under our control," J.K. Dutt, director general of India's elite National Security Guard commando unit, told reporters, adding that 24 bodies had been found. Dozens of people — including a man clutching a baby — had been evacuated from Oberoi earlier Friday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Some hotel guests were still believed to be in their rooms. "They are still scared, so even when we request them to come out and identify ourselves, they are naturally afraid," said Dutt.
"I'm going home, I'm going to see my wife," said Mark Abell, with a huge smile on his face after emerging from the hotel. Abell, from Britain, had locked himself in his room during the siege.
But outside the Taj Mahal, a FOXNews.com reporter said there were several explosions believed to be grenades and intensifying gunfire, and that fires had broken out inside the building.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It's just a matter of a few hours that we'll be able to wrap up things," Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj told reporters Friday morning, but the standoff and the search of the hotel continued well into the night.
Indian Woman Recalls Night of Terror Inside Taj Mahal Hotel
Indian forces expanded their investigation to the sea because the gunmen apparently came to Mumbai by boat. Authorities stopped a cargo ship off the western coast of Gujarat that had sailed from Saudi Arabia and handed it over to police for investigation, said Navy Capt. Manohar Nambiar said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}They also stopped a cargo ship that had come to Mumbai from Karachi, Pakistan, but released it when nothing suspicious was found on board.
The British government, meanwhile, was investigating whether some of the attackers could be British citizens with links to Pakistan or the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, a British security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his work.
The gunmen were well-prepared, apparently scouting some targets ahead of time and carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It's obvious they were trained somewhere. ... Not everyone can handle the AK series of weapons or throw grenades like that," an unidentified member of India's Marine Commando unit told reporters, his face wrapped in a black mask. He said the men were "very determined and remorseless" and ready for a long siege. One backpack they found had 400 rounds of ammunition inside.
He said the Taj was filled with terrified civilians, making it very difficult for the commandos to fire on the gunmen.
"To try and avoid civilian casualties we had to be so much more careful," he said, adding that hotel was a grim sight. "Bodies were strewn all over the place, and there was blood everywhere."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}India has been shaken repeatedly by terror attacks blamed on Muslim militants in recent years, but most were bombings striking crowded places: markets, street corners, parks. Mumbai — one of the most populated cities in the world with some 18 million people — was hit by a series of bombings in July 2006 that killed 187 people.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. U.S. officials are concerned about a flare-up in animosity similar to one that occurred after Pakistani militants attacked the Indian parliament in December 2001, officials said.
Underscoring those fears, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called the foreign minister of India twice, along with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, since the crisis began.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There were very worrying tensions in the region," said Gordon Duguid, a State Department spokesman. "She was calling the president of Pakistan to get his read on how those tensions might be affected."
FOXNews.com's Judd Berger, FOX News' Greg Burke and Reena Ninan, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.