Deaths in Mumbai 'terror' attacks

At least 25 people are reported to have been killed and dozens of others wounded in a series of shootings across the Indian city of Mumbai. "It seems to be a terrorist attack, many places are under siege by gunmen," A.K. Sharma, a Mumbai government railway police commissioner, told a local television on Wednesday. Armed men opened fire on a crowded Mumbai train station, a restaurant popular with tourists and several luxury hotels. "They entered the passenger hall of the station and started firing," Sharma said. "The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed. The encounters are still going on and we are trying to overpower them," A.N. Roy, a senior police officer, said. Police said at least ten people were taken to hospital following the shoot-out outside the city's main Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station and the nearby Leopold restaurant in the Colaba district. They said attacks had been launched on about eight places in Mumbai, India's main financial centre. One police officer said many places were under siege by gunmen. Three members of staff were shot dead at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel in Colaba district, the Press Trust of India reported. Another three people died in a bomb blast in a taxi in the south east of the city. 'Serious attack' One woman, who gave her name as Souad, escaped an attack on the Oberoi hotel in the city. She told Al Jazeera: "We heard no alarms, nothing. My husband opened the door and we couldn't see outside - it was so dark with all the smoke - we couldn't breathe. "We were on the 17th floor of the hotel and we used towels to protect ourselves and then ran and got a taxi and then we just drove as far away as we could." Speaking from Mumbai, Al Jazeera's Riz Khan said: "This was a serious attack by people armed with AK47s. "The police were taken by surprise ... they are not equipped for this type of attack, which would have been organised as it struck several areas at once. "There are people still trapped inside the rail terminal." "Seeing these two major landmarks - the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels - on fire is psychologically damaging for people in India and is comparable to the affects the September 11 attacks had on Americans in 2001." 'Nowhere safe' He said landmarks and heavily populated areas had come under attack. Police said there were reports of shootings in other parts of the city, including some in five-star hotels. Al Jazeera's Matt McClure said: "There was at least five attacks - the largest on a Mumbai railstation and there were three on large, luxury hotels. Several dozen people have been wounded. "It seems clear what the intent is here - to sow fear and leave people worried and thinking 'nowhere is safe'. Police have cordoned-off the areas, while TV channels said guests at the nearby luxury Taj Mahal hotel in Colaba had been warned to stay indoors or not to return. Co-ordinated attacks India has witnessed a series of co-ordinated attacks in recent months. A little-known Islamic group, the Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahedeen, claimed responsibility for serial blasts last month in which 80 people died in India's northeast state of Assam. A total of 12 explosions shook the northeastern state, six of them ripping through crowded areas in the main city of Guwahati. Six weeks earlier, the capital New Delhi had been hit by a series of bombs in crowded markets that left more than 20 people dead, the attacks were claimed by a group calling itself the Indian Mujahedeen.