More on Mumbai, or Bombay, as it used to be more commonly known, in calmer days. “Foreigners targeted in coordinated Bombay attacks,” by Rhys Blakely in the Times, November 26 (thanks to Alan):
Gunmen stalked a hotel in Bombay looking for British and US passport holders during co-ordinated attacks across the city that have left at least 80 dead.
A series of shootings and bomb blasts at luxury hotels and bars in the south of the city hit at least nine locations. Security sources said “a major terror attack” was unfolding amid reports that foreigners had been taken hostage in one hotel.
Shootings were reported in the lobby of the five-star Taj Mahal Palace hotel in the Colaba area of south Bombay and at the nearby Leopolds bar, a popular destination with western backpackers. Witnesses described pools of blood and bullet scarred walls at both locations.
A witness at the hotel told a local television station: “They wanted anyone with British or American passports.
“They wanted foreigners.”
It was feared that the death toll could rise significantly….
A police spokesman said: “We have only a very tenuous grasp on what is happening so far. People are scared. The incidents being reported are so many. Gunmen are under siege at several locations but we are worried about hitting civilians”
Because the police, unlike the attackers, are civilized human beings.