Mumbai seige: 101 killed more than 250 injured

"People who were held up there, they have all been rescued," Roy told the NDTV news channel. "But there are guests in the rooms, we don't know how many."

Small groups of militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades burst into luxury hotels on Wednesday night during the coordinated attacks apparently aimed at tourists in India's financial capital Mumbai.

Some 17 hours after the late-evening assault, soldiers and militants were still exchanging intermittent fire and more than 100 people were trapped inside rooms of the Taj Mahal hotel.

Roy also said some people were still apparently being held hostage at the Trident/Oberoi Hotel. "That is why the operation is being conducted more sensitively to ensure there are no casualties of innocent people."

An Italian national was among the killed in the attacks, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.

A Japanese businessman was also killed in attacks while up to 10 Japanese nationals were trapped in the luxury hotels targeted by militants, officials said.

Meanwhile, the US administration is continuing to monitor attacks in Mumbai, but said it was not aware of any American casualties, despite reports that Westerners were targeted.

The White House and State Department both denounced the attacks by teams of heavily armed gunmen who stormed luxury hotels, a popular tourist attraction, hospitals and a crowded train station in a series of attacks, killing scores of people, wounding hundreds and taking hostages.

Militants took several people including many foreigners hostage in two of the city’s five-star hotels: the Taj Mahal hotel, a 105-year-old city landmark, and the Trident Oberoi.

Earlier, police shot dead four gunmen and arrested nine suspects, officials said, adding that 12 policemen were killed, including Hemant Karkare, the chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in Mumbai.

Media reports said a militant group known as the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attacks.

One attacker in the Oberoi told India TV that seven attackers were holding hostages inside the luxury establisment.

"There are seven of us inside hotel Oberoi," the man identified as Sahadullah said. "We want all Mujahideens held in India released and only after that we will release the people."

At least 287 people were wounded in the attack.

Attackers targeted the Cafe Leopold, perhaps the most famous restaurant and hang-out for tourists in Mumbai, as well as hospitals and railway stations.

“I guess they were after foreigners, because they were asking for British or American passports,” said Rakesh Patel, a British witness who lives in Hong Kong and was staying at the Taj hotel on business. “They had bombs.”

“They came from the restaurant and took us up the stairs,” he told the NDTV news channel, smoke stains all over his face. “Young boys, maybe 20 years old, 25 years old. They had two guns.”

Police said targets included the luxury Taj and Oberoi hotels, with television stations showing the lobby of both hotels on fire and people being evacuated from the Oberoi with their hands on their heads.

Fresh explosions were heard in the early hours of Thursday.

“An encounter is going on at the two hotels, the situation is grave,” Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister told CNN-IBN TV. “Our men are on the job.”

Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy said attackers had fired automatic weapons indiscriminately, and used grenades, adding that they were still holed up in some buildings.

“These are terrorist strikes in at least seven places,” he told the NDTV news channel.

“Unknown terrorists have gone with automatic weapons and opened fire indiscriminately. At a few places they even used grenades.”

Some of the injured were evacuated from the Taj on the hotel's golden luggage carts, while waiters in black and white formal wear and chefs were seen leaving the Oberoi.

Sourav Mishra, a reporter, was with friends at the Cafe Leopold when gunmen opened fire around 9:30 pm. He has received injuries and is in St. George's Hospital.

“I heard some gunshots around 9:30. I was with my friends. Something hit me. I ran away and fell on the road. Then somebody picked me up. I have injuries below my shoulder,” Mishra said from a hospital bed he was sharing with three other people.

There were other attacks elsewhere.

“They entered the passenger hub of a station and started firing,” A.K. Sharma, a Mumbai police government railway police commissioner told local television.

Sameeran Chakraborty, a Mumbai resident, told the NDTV news channel he heard a blast inside a car near the city airport.

“It was a big noise and one car was involved, definitely not more than that.”

India has suffered a wave of bomb attacks in recent years. Most have been blamed on Islamist militants, although police have also arrested suspected Hindu extremists thought to be behind some of the attacks.