India

Fresh gun fire and explosion were heard late Thursday in Mumbai as police and soldiers battled terrorists at three sites about 24 hours after the first wave of violence hit the city. Europeans and Americans were among those caught up in the bloodshed and chaos of the terror attacks on Wednesday.

Targets included two luxury hotels, the Oberoi and the Taj Mahal, as well as a cafe popular with Western tourists. Gunmen entered the lobby and began rounding up guests, asking for anyone with a U.S. or British passport and taking about 15 of them hostage.

Indian Prime Minister Moanmohan Singh said the attackers were likely foreigners, a group called the Deccan Mujahideen took credit in e-mails sent to several Indian news outlets. Authorities found 8 kilograms (17 pounds) of RDX, one of the most powerful military explosives, at a restaurant near the Taj, indicating that the attackers may have been planning more violence.

Friday, Commandos stormed the Mumbai headquarters of an ultra-orthodox Jewish group, found the bodies of five hostages inside — a New York rabbi and his wife as well as three others. The rabbi and two other men were American citizens.

The office was one of 10 sites attacked by gunmen on Wednesday and Thursday in a spree that killed more than 150 people and 370 injured in India's financial capital, including at least 14 foreigners; at least nine gunmen had been killed across Mumbai, one had been arrested and many were still in the Taj Mahal hotel.

The gunmen apparently came to Mumbai by boat, and Indian forces expanded their investigation to the sea. Authorities stopped a cargo ship off the western coast of Gujarat that had sailed from Saudi Arabia and handed it over to police for investigation. The attack is reminiscent of past terrorist operations undertaken by groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed," a counter terrorism official said on condition of anonymity. The two groups mentioned by the official are Pakistani militants linked to Al-Queda who have fought Indian troops in Kashmir. A South Asia specialist said Friday that the terror "group itself is probably drawing from, in large numbers, Indian operatives, but it probably enjoys a fairly healthy support of Pakistan.

President Bush has offered USA support and assistance to the government of India as it works to restore order, provide safety to its people and comfort to the victims and their families and investigate these despicable acts. According to a U.S. counter terrorism official, New Delhi was warned about a potential maritime attack on Mumbai at least a month before last week's massacre, but police chief denied that he ever received a warning of an impending seaborne attack on his city.