The last of the militants holed up in Taj Mahal hotel kept crack commandos at bay engaging them in a fierce gunbattle tonight even two days after the attack that saw two luxury hotels bear the brunt.
Bodies of hapless victims--some of them hostages-- shrouded in white were being brought out from the Taj and Trident-Oberoi as the hotels became a mute witness to the unprecedented terror assault on their rich legacy by rampaging terrorists.The heavily armed terrorist is reported to be holed up in the ballroom of Mumbai's iconomic landmark and remained elusive with police saying there was no let up in his aggressive stance with grenades being hurled at regular intervals setting off fire at different places. Police said the militant appeared to have a huge stock of grenades.Fresh gun shots rang and loud explosions rattled the Taj tonight as the pride of Mumbai took a heavy beating. There were also reports than more than one terrorist could be still in the Taj.About 40 to 50 bodies were believed to have been recovered from the sea-front Taj hotel with commandos reporting that they saw around 15 bodies in one room alone.

59-year-old Alan Scherr and his 13-year-old daughter Naomi were two Americans among the dozens killed during the past few days in the Mumbai killings in India.The Scherrs were among 25 foundation participants in a spiritual program in Mumbai. Four others on the mission were injured in the cafe attack in the luxury Oberoi hotel, Garvey said, including two women from Tennessee.Members of the New York-based Chabad-Lubavitch ultra-Orthodox Jewish movement were anxiously awaiting the names of victims at its local headquarters in Mumbai, which was one of 10 sites attacked.There is likely to be more Americans reported dead as more information becomes available. Scherr had been a college professor.Kerr’s two sons and wife Kia were not in India with Alan and Naomi.

The batch of terrorists who reached Mumbai on boats two days ago to execute the worst Terror attack on India had killed and thrown off-board three members of the crew of Kuber, the Indian trawler they hijacked, and beheaded the fourth, Amarsinh Solanki, whom they let live longer to help them with navigation. Sources have told The Indian Express that reports from Coast Guard authorities said that Solanki’s “headless body” was recovered from the 45-foot trawler about five nautical miles from the Mumbai coast during an aerial recce on the waters of Arabian Sea.
It’s also confirmed that the terrorists got off Kuber and boarded an inflatable dinghy — Gemini craft — which they used to land on Mumbai’s shore. Sources said that one of the terrorists caught is said to have admitted that Kuber had only one Gemini craft on board. “Eight terrorists boarded the craft to reach the shore on Wednesday,” a source said.

Five hostages have been found dead in a Mumbai Orthodox Jewish community center held by Muslim terrorist attackers, an Israeli diplomat says.Indian police commandos stormed the center Friday in an operation to free it from masked Muslim gunman who occupied the facility as part of a series of coordinated attacks in the Indian financial capital that has killed at least 143 people.The commando raid was still going on late Friday, with the bodies of five Jewish hostages having been recovered from the facility, including those of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, Ynetnews.com quoted diplomat Haim Choshen telling Israel's Channel 2."Apparently the hostages did not remain alive," officials of the Israeli rescue organization Zaka said in a statement without identifying the hostages or saying how many may have died.Paramilitary commandos dressed in blue uniforms slid down ropes from helicopters hovering over the building and stormed inside with guns blazing, the International Herald Tribune reported.Commandos also combed trough the charred Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, battling remaining pockets of militants, with police officials saying they discovered 24 bodies inside the Oberoi.Those killed included six foreigners, at least a dozen police officers and the head of the city's anti-terrorism squad. More than 300 people were wounded in the indiscriminate firings and grenade-type explosions
The head of the elite commando National Security Group (NASDAQ:NSEC) told reporters Friday afternoon two of the remaining terrorists were killed at the Oberoi and that the complex was now under government control.The commandos also recovered unexploded grenades and AK-47 automatic rifles from the hotel, the Times of India reported, adding at least 148 rescued hostages, many of them foreigners, were seen leaving.
Separately, Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor was quoted as saying all hostages inside the massive century-old, 800-room landmark Taj Mahal Hotel had been evacuated. There had been another gun battle at the hotel after a night of similar battles and constantly raging fires.Earlier, about 30 bodies were recovered from the Taj, the Times of India reported.The BBC quoted security forces as saying the militants appeared to be familiar with the layout of the hotel. It said security forces recovered a Mauritius identity card as well as guns and money.

The two suspected British terrorists were two of a group of gunmen seized by Indian commandos while trying to free hostages from three hotels.India's Foreign Office is investigating reports that terrorists responsible for the attacks in the nation's financial capital that have left 140 dead and more than 300 injured, include "British citizens of Pakistani origin," according to the Telegraph.

Report on Indian news channel NDTV that there were British citizens among the militants. British security sources have told the BBC they are asking their Indian counterparts for information.Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was too soon to say whether Britons were involved, and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said British authorities had "no knowledge" of any home-grown links. But Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was "too early to say" whether any of those involved were British. According to UK officials, no hard evidence of British nationals being among the attackers had yet been provided by Indian authorities, BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said.
Mr Miliband told Sky News that Britain would work "very, very closely with the Indians", but added that it was too soon to determine the nationality of the terrorists. "I'm afraid I don't have any information about that at the moment," he said. "Obviously, the priority of the Indian authorities is to complete this operation. They can then start identifying who are the terrorists, what is their background. "If any of them are alive, they can be debriefed and questioned." One British national, Andreas Liveras, died and at least seven Britons were hurt in the attacks on the Indian city, which left at least 130 people dead.

Pranav Damle, a Citizen Journalist was in the vicinity when the Taj Hotel seige took place, he shot some of the events that took place on his mobile phone. CJ Damle talks about his terrifying experience on the fateful night.

A 29-year-old Brooklyn rabbi and his wife were believed to be among the foreigners held hostage by the terrorists that struck Mumbai, friends said early Thursday.
Gunmen seized the Mumbai headquarters of the Orthodox Jewish outreach group ChabadLubavitch, run by Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, according to media reports. Shots were heard coming from the building.

State officials said 119 people had died and 288 were injured.

The well-planned attacks began Wednesday night and officials said the gunmen were prepared, even carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy during the fight. Their main targets appeared to be Americans, Britons and Jews, though most of the dead seemed to be Indians and foreign tourists caught in the random gunfire.

Qantas employee who became the second person convicted under Australia's tough anti-terror laws has been found guilty in absentia of terrorism charges in Lebanon.
At a sentencing hearing in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday, lawyers for Belal Saadallah Khazaal, who has been found guilty of producing a book knowing it could assist in a terrorist act, argued that his convictions in Lebanon should not be taken into account because he was never able to put his side of the case.
Khazaal, 38, of Lakemba in Sydney's southwest, was convicted in absentia in Lebanon for his alleged involvement in funding the 2003 bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Beirut. He was sentenced in absentia to 15 years for falsifying a passport for another Australian man who had fled to Lebanon from Australia. This information was not revealed to the jury in his NSW Supreme Court trial, at which he was convicted in September of producing a book described as a "do-it-yourself terrorism guide" containing an assassination hit-list that included US President George W. Bush.
In the first conviction of its kind in Australia, Khazaal was found guilty of the offence of compiling a book knowing it could assist in a terrorist act. However, the NSW Supreme Court jury failed to reach a verdict on a second charge against Khazaal of attempting to incite a terrorist act. On that basis, Khazaal's barrister, George Thomas, argued that any sentence handed down to his client must be at the lower end of the scale. Khazaal was arrested and charged in June 2004 over the publication on the internet of a 110-page book titled Provision on the Rules of Jihad - short judicial rulings and organisational instructions for fighters and mujahideen against infidels. He was among the first people charged after the federal Government introduced tough new terrorism laws in late 2003. Khazaal's conviction followed that in June 2006 of Sydney architect Faheem Khalid Lodhi, who became the first person convicted under the new laws. The book listed various means of assassination, including letter-bombs, booby-trapping cars, kidnappings, poisonings and shooting down planes. The book also contained a hit-list of officials and countries to be targeted, including Australia and the US. In the Supreme Court yesterday, Khazaal's close friend and doctor Tamir Khalil said Khazaal was suffering from medical ailments including a possible neurological condition that might have affected his behaviour at the time of the offence. Dr Khalil said he had known Khazaal for many years and had never known him to display any violent tendencies, or even to talk about violence. But the doctor said Khazaal's medical history indicated a possibility he might have a tumour on his brain and this should be investigated.
Khazaal's wife, Mervat, gave evidence, telling the court her husband spent a lot of time working with angry Muslim youths, trying to protect them from their own emotions. "He tried to cool them down," Ms Khazaal told the court. She described her husband as a lovely man who was honest and generous and respected her. During the trial, US terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann described the book as a do-it-yourself guide to terrorism aimed at people who did not have Osama bin Laden's telephone number. Khazaal will be sentenced at a date to be fixed next year.

CIA director Michael Hayden has warned that every major terrorist threat confronting the world has ties to Pakistan.In a speech to the Atlantic Council on Thursday, Mr Hayden also claimed that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hiding in Fata.“Let me be very clear. Today, virtually every major terrorist threat that my agency is aware of has threads back to the tribal areas,” Mr Hayden told the Washington-based think-tank.The CIA director, however, acknowledged that Bin Laden was isolated from the day-to-day operations of Al Qaeda, although the organisation was still the greatest threat to the US.“If there is a major strike on this country (the US), it will bear the fingerprints of Al Qaeda,” he warned.[...]After depicting Pakistan as the hub of all major terrorist activities in the world, the CIA chief also conceded that Pakistan faced a complex situation.“While the problem looks easy from thousands of miles away, it’s extremely difficult up close because of the tribal issues,” he said.The CIA chief said he believed the Pakistani government had been “extraordinarily helpful” in responding to this challenge. Their plan, which they started to implement in 2006, to slowly expand their reach over the Fata would have been wise and far-reaching were it not for the extreme urgency of the threat, he added.“We’ve killed and captured more top Al Qaeda operatives with the support of the Pakistani security forces than anywhere else in the world. What remains unclear is what the end game is,” he added.According to him, Al Qaeda was chased out of Yemen in the 1990s only to reconstitute in Afghanistan. It was run out of Afghanistan in 2001, only to disperse, setting up a rump headquarters in Pakistan and declare Iraq the “central front” of its effort.“Where, then, does it stop? Or is this simply a case of perpetual penalty kicks?” he asked...

President of the Serb National Council of Kosmet Milan Ivanovic assessed that the explosion in the yard of the International Civilian Office in Pristina shows to the international community that the Albanians are ready to achieve their goals through violence and terrorism.The US Office encourages them in this, as after talks with US Ambassador in Pristina, the Albanians rejected the offered plan on UNMIK reconfiguration, assessed Ivanovic.

IDF force arrested Tanzim terrorist Mohammed Abu Krek, 17, in the old city of Nablus late Sunday night. According to the defense establishment, Abu Krek is a member of the military infrastructure cell of a terrorist organization which specializes in manufactured explosive belts, and organizing terror attacks against IDF forces. Abu Karak is suspected of preparing the explosive belt which was used during an attempted terror attack at the Hawara checkpoint in May this year. The attack was thwarted by IDF troops at the site.

Coalition and Iraqi forces killed two suspected terrorists, captured 14 others and seized dozens of weapons In Iraq the past three days, military officials said.
Coalition troops targeted a senior leader of a terrorist organization during an operation in Baghdad today. When forces arrived at the residence believed to house the terrorist, they called for its occupants to surrender. Two individuals in the building repeatedly refused to comply with instructions and began acting in a threatening manner, military officials said. Perceiving hostile intent, coalition forces engaged the men, killing them both. None of the building's other occupants were injured. In an operation targeting al Qaida in Iraq leadership in Hit today, troops detained one suspected terrorist and three of his associates. The suspected terrorist has alleged ties to al Qaida in Iraq, or AQI, leadership in the region. During other operations today, coalition forces caught two bombing-network associates in Mosul, and suspected terrorists in As Sadiyah, Abu Ghraib and Kirkuk, military officials said. During operations in Iraq yesterday: Iraqi security forces and the national police captured two individuals with possible ties to Al Qaeda in Iraq activity in Mosul. Military officials believe one of the individuals has connections to the city’s illegal terrorist court system. Troops also recovered three AK-47 rifles during a combined operation in the al Rissala neighborhood.
Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers detained an individual believed to be aligned with an Iranian-backed Special Group and dismantled a homemade bomb in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad. Elsewhere in the Iraqi capital, forces captured one suspected terrorist believed to be a homemade bomb facilitator with ties to leadership in the Rusafa network. Multinational Division Baghdad units assisted Iraqi national police in securing and removing hidden stashes of weapons in Baghdad. The weapons – the bulk of which were seized in the New Baghdad section of the Iraqi capital – consisted of mortar rounds and tubes, bomb-making materials and homemade explosives. In Iraq on Nov. 14: Coalition troops on a targeted raid in Baghdad’s Rashid district detained a suspected Special Groups associate linked to a weapons trafficker known to operate in the Iraqi capital. The patrol moved the suspect to a combat outpost for additional questioning. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers captured a suspected Special Groups member in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad where, meanwhile, Air Force airmen discovered unexploded ordnance. Iraqi Army soldiers and Iraqi national police seized three weapons caches north of Baghdad. The stockpiles consisted of rocket motors, artillery rounds, rocket warheads, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other military equipment.

International efforts to combat terrorist financing have lost momentum since successes that followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. Meanwhile, Al-Qaeda has changed the way it raises and delivers money for terrorist activities -- relying more on private donations or criminal activities like the drug trade and using informal transfer methods outside of the global financial system. Those are the findings of a new study -- "The Money Trail: Finding, Following, and Freezing Terrorist Finances" -- by experts at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, in Washington, D.C. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz spoke about the report with one of its co-authors, Michael Jacobson, who has served as a senior adviser to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and as counsel on the 9/11 Commission.

French government said it has arrested the suspected military leader of the Basque terrorist group ETA near the Spanish border. From Paris, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA the arrest marks a further blow for hardline members of ETA.The French government said it had arrested suspected ETA miliatry leader Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina along with a female colleague early Monday in the Pyrenees region near the border with Spain.Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie outlined some details of the arrests to French radio.Alliot-Marie said Aspiazu Rubina - known by his alias Txeroki - was suspected of killing two young police officers a year ago. Spain has also been hunting for him on suspicion of being behind a number of other attacks there. They include a 2006 bombing of a Madrid airport that killed two people.Both France and Spain have hailed the arrest as a blow to ETA, which is blamed for more than 800 deaths in Spain during its 40-year campaign for an independent Basque state. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said ETA was weaker and Spanish democracy was stronger because of the arrest.Analysts said it further undermines ETA's hard-line leadership, which has already suffered from the arrests of a number of its members in recent years as part of stepped up French and Spanish efforts against the group. Some experts believe the arrests may give voice to moderates in the Basque group who back dialogue rather than arms to achieve their aims.ETA has been blamed for killing five people after renouncing a unilateral ceasefire in 2007.

British doctor on trial for terrorism insists he never wanted to hurt or kill anyone when he crashed his car full of petrol and gas cannisters into the Glasgow Airport in June 2007.Two Asian trained doctors tried to escape after the attack in Glasgow, with one being badly burned. They were stopped by police and passer-bys. The airport was evacuated and all flights were cancelled. The BBC reported on the terror trial today:An NHS doctor accused of attempted car bombings in London and at Glasgow Airport has admitted that according to English law he is a terrorist.
Bilal Abdulla, 29, is alleged to have crashed into the airport in a Jeep laden with petrol and gas canisters. But he told a jury he never wanted to kill or injure anyone. Dr Abdulla, from Paisley, and Dr Mohammed Asha, 27, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, deny conspiracies to murder and to cause explosions. The defence has said that Dr Abdulla and friend Kafeel Ahmed, 28, wanted to highlight the plight of people in Iraq and Afghanistan with a series of incendiary device attacks in June 2007. Dr Asha is accused of supplying them with cash and advice. A jury at Woolwich Crown Court heard Dr Abdulla had told police in Scotland "something along those lines" that he was a terrorist shortly after being arrested.