Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed the Mumbai attacks on terrorist groups based in India's 'neighbours' -- an indirect reference to Pakistan -- and warned it would have to pay 'a cost' if it did not stop the use of its territory for terrorism. "We will take up strongly with our neighbours that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated, and that there would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken by them," Dr Manmohan Singh said in a televised address.Meanwhile, elite Indian commandos fought room-to-room battles with terrorists inside two luxury hotels to save scores of people trapped or taken hostage. Mumbai police chief Hassan Gafoor said more than 125 people had died in the series of gun and grenade attacks that began on Wednesday and continued into Thursday. At least 315 people have been injured. "The situation is very fluid and the toll could rise further," he told AFP.
According to hospital sources quoted by the Press Trust of India, nine foreign nationals were among the dead -- including a Japanese businessman, an Australian, a Briton, a German and an Italian. Americans, French, Israelis and Canadians were said to be among those held or trapped.
| Helicopters buzzed overhead and crowds cheered as the commandos moved into the Trident-Oberoi. |
Earlier, explosions rattled the nearby Taj Hotel as the troops flushed out the last of the terrorists there. Fire and smoke plumed from an open window.
Commandos had also gathered outside a Jewish centre where a rabbi is thought to have been taken hostage, but later apparently decided to hold off from an assault.
External linkages: "The well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of terror by choosing high-profile targets," Singh said in his address, in a second reference to Pakistan.
In a third reference, Singh gave another warning: "We are not prepared to countenance a situation in which the safety and security of our citizens can be violated with impunity by terrorists. It is evident that the group which carried out these attacks, based outside the country, had come with single-minded determination to create havoc."
Lashkar-e-Taiba: Lashkar-e-Taiba denied any involvement in the attacks. "We have nothing to do with Mumbai attacks," Abdullah Ghaznavi, a Lashkar-e-Taiba spokesman told AFP from the Indian-held Kashmir summer capital Srinagar.
Indian police said they had shot seven gunmen and arrested nine suspects. They said 12 policemen were killed.
Strategic expert Uday Bhaskar said the attacks could inflame tensions between Hindus and Muslims. Schools were closed and a curfew was imposed around the Gateway of India, a colonial-era monument. But train services were running. The main Bombay Stock Exchange was closed until further notice.
Indian cabinet: The Indian prime minister chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security Thursday morning, and later --when Home Minister Shivraj Patil returned from Mumbai -- called a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, which also vetted his address. In a full cabinet meeting later on Thursday, ministers lashed out at Patil and Indian intelligence agencies.