MUMBAI, India — Indian commandos killed the last remaining gunmen holed up at a luxury Mumbai hotel today, ending a 60-hour rampage through India’s financial capital by suspected Islamic militants that left more than 195 people dead and rocked the nation.
Orange flames and black smoke engulfed the landmark 400-room Taj Mahal hotel after dawn today as Indian forces ended the siege in a hail of gunfire, just hours after elite commandos stormed a Jewish center and found six hostages dead.
More than 195 people were killed and several hundred wounded in the violence that started when more than a dozen assailants attacked 10 sites across Mumbai on Wednesday night. Fifteen foreigners were among the dead.
“The Taj operation is over. The last two terrorists holed up there have been killed,” Mumbai Police Chief Hasan Ghafoor said.
With the end of one of the most brazen terror attacks in India’s history, attention turned from the military operation to questions of who was behind the attack and the heavy toll on human life.
U.S. officials were checking with Indian authorities and hospitals to learn more about the extent of casualties.
Among the dead were:
Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivkah, 28. They were killed in an attack on the ultra-Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s center in Mumbai, Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin said in New York. Officials could not confirm whether Rivkah Holtzberg was, like her husband, an American citizen.
Bentzion Chroman, an Israeli with dual U.S. citizenship who was visiting the center.
Rabbi Leibish Teitlebaum of Brooklyn, N.Y., who was visiting the center.
Alan Scherr, 58, and daughter Naomi, 13, of Virginia, who died in a cafe Wednesday night. They lived at the Synchronicity Foundation sanctuary about 15 miles southwest of Charlottesville, Va., and were among 25 foundation participants in a spiritual program in Mumbai, said Bobbie Garvey, a spokeswoman for the foundation, which promotes a form of meditation.
Authorities scrambled to identify those responsible for the unprecedented attack, with Indian officials pointing across the border at rival Pakistan, and Pakistani leaders promising to cooperate in the investigation. A team of FBI agents was ordered to fly to India to help investigate.
On Friday, commandos killed the last two gunmen inside the luxury Oberoi hotel, where 24 bodies had been found, authorities said. Dozens of people — including a man clutching a baby and about 20 airline crew members — were evacuated from the Oberoi earlier Friday.
As fighting stretched into a fourth day today, the Taj Mahal hotel was wracked by hours of intermittent gunfire and explosions, even though authorities said earlier they cleared it of gunmen.
Indian forces launched grenades and traded gunfire with what authorities believed was one or two militants holed up in the ballroom. What appeared to be a black-clad figure toppled from a first-floor window.
By Friday evening, at least nine gunmen had been killed and one arrested, said R. Patil, a top official in Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is the capital.
In the most dramatic of the counterstrikes Friday morning, masked Indian commandos rappelled from a helicopter to the rooftop of the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish center as snipers laid down cover fire.
For nearly 12 hours, explosions and gunfire erupted from the five-story building as the commandos fought their way downward, while thousands of people gathered behind barricades in the streets to watch.
The assault blew huge holes in the center, and, at one point, Indian forces fired a rocket at the building.
Soon after, elated commandos ran outside with their rifles raised over their heads in a sign of triumph.
But inside the Chabad House was a scene of tragedy.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel’s Channel 1 TV that the bodies of three women and three men were found at the center. Some of the victims had been bound, Barak said.
Local media reports, quoting top military officials, said two gunmen were found dead in the building.
The attackers were well-prepared, apparently scouting some targets ahead of time and carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy during a long siege. One backpack found contained 400 rounds of ammunition.
Authorities were working to find out who was behind the attacks, claimed by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen.
India’s foreign minister said the blame appeared to point to Pakistan. “According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for Mumbai terror attacks,” Pranab Mukherjee said.
Jaiprakash Jaiswal, India’s home minister, said a captured gunmen had been identified as a Pakistani.
Earlier Friday, Pakistani Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar denied involvement by his country. “I will say in very categoric terms that Pakistan is not involved in these gory incidents.”
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