Last Updated: November 27, 2008 01:02 IST
12:44 AM: A gun battle is ongoing in the Taj Hotel in Colaba. Within the last ten minutes, a guest at the hotel got word out to CNN via email that a grenade had exploded within the hotel premises just then.
Additional Commissioner of Police AN Roy and other officials confirmed that some armed terrorists are holed up in the iconic hotel.
Police officials said they have no information of a hostage situation; they say guests have been sequestered in safe areas of the hotel, and the police are now engaged in flushing out the terrorists from their hiding place.
Earlier Report: Terror struck the country's financial capital late tonight as coordinate serial explosions and indiscriminate firing rocked eight areas across Mumbai including the crowded CST railway station, two five star hotels--Oberoi and Taj-- leaving 16 persons dead and 50 injured.
Armed with AK-47 rifles and grenades, a couple of terrorists entered the passenger hall of CST and opened fire and threw grenades, Mumbai General Railway Police Commissioner A K Sharma said.
The terror strike which began at 1033 PM at Chhatrapathi Shivaji Terminus(CST), formerly known as the Victoria Terminus(VT), claimed 10 lives in the premises of the station alone, police said.
Three persons were killed in a bomb explosion in a taxi on Mazegaon dockyard road and an equal number were gunned down at Taj Hotel. The victim in the hotel were its employees.
The lobby of the Oberoi hotel was on fire and the hotel evacuated, eyewitnesses said.
Maharashtra DGP A N Roy said tonight's attack in "at least seven places" is a "terror strike." Sharma said 30 persons were injured in the CST incident.
Commandoes were rushed to the CST which wore a deserted look and train services suspended. Some people were injured in the firing in Oberoi hotel, and taken to a nearby hospital in police vans and ambulance.
Firing was also reported in Taj hotel. Firing was reported at Colaba, Nariman Point and near Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal, formerly Victoria Terminus and it was still continuing.
Firing was also reported at Cama Hospital in south Mumbai, police said, adding that a blast was reported in a taxi under a flyover in suburban Vile Parle. A bomb went off in a taxi in Mazegaon dockyard road.
According to Ashok Sharma, Commissioner of Police , Railways, "The incident of firing and bomb blast have happened at CST in Mumbai."
He told rediff.com, "Between the platform number two and eight these terrorists are running creating havoc."
He said that they are wearing black dresses and wielding AK 47-type weapons.
Two hand grenades were thrown from the Taj hotel on the policemen who had cordoned off the hotel. Police were evacuating many of the people who had gone for their evening dinner or were the guests at the hotel.
Some dead bodies too were taken out from the hotel and it is not clear how many terrorists have entered the hotel.
Bomb squads have reached hotel to defuse a live bomb that was found near Taj hotel.
The situation is tense and no one is allowed to venture near the hotel. The problem that policemen are facing is that they don't know how many terrorists have entered the hotel and where they are located.
The same is the case with another five star Oberoi hotel located one kilometer away from Taj Mahal hotel where some terrorists have entered and are firing from top.
Terrorists take over police car
Terrorists took over a police car and started firing at passers-by near Metro cinema in South Mumbai. Another terrorist, in a grey vehicle, was nabbed by the police near Chowpatty. The man, who was carrying a fire arm, had been firing at passers-by.
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