Gunshots were audible on CNN-IBN’s coverage, which went dark moments later, at least on the internet feed. “Fighting reported at Mumbai Jewish center,” from CNN, November 27:
MUMBAI, India (CNN) — Fighting broke out early Friday between government soldiers in a helicopter and gunmen holed up inside a Jewish center where two or three gunmen were believed to be remaining.
The helicopter dropped off seven or eight soldiers onto the roof of the Chabad house, and then moved away from the line of fire, CNN sister station CNN-IBN reported.
The operation followed after grenades had been tossed from inside the structure toward anyone approaching the building — three such explosions occurred in four hours.
But movement appeared imminent shortly before dawn, when several jeeploads of police, firetrucks and at least one ambulance pulled up to the five-story structure.
The fighting at Chabad house comes as Indian security forces appear to be gaining control of two Mumbai five-star hotels attacked by gunmen in a wave of violence that has lasted more than 24 hours and killed at least 125 people.
A gunman was killed around 1 a.m. in the Oberoi hotel, where commandos were going room-to-room, trying to flush out attackers and rescue people, J.K. Dutt, the director of India’s National Security Guard, told CNN-IBN, CNN’s sister network in India.
Dutt said he could not say how many gunmen remained in the Oberoi, where hostages have been trickling out of the building for hours.
Security forces used in-house telephones to ask guests holed up in their rooms to switch on lights and open curtains, so that they could provide cover, CNN correspondent Andrew Stevens reported.