India mops up last of Mumbai militants

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By Krittivas Mukherjee

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Operations by Indian commandos to dislodge Islamist militants at Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel ended on Saturday, Indian television channels quoted officials as saying.

The hotel came under heavy gunfire and flames leaped out of the building shortly before the announcement.

The country's commando chief told NDTV television that two militants had been killed at the Taj.

There was no word on the fate of hostages or guests.

Sniffer dogs were shown being taken to the hotel and ambulances arrived. Some commandos left positions they had been holding around the hotel, and police stood around smiling and looking relaxed.

A body was thrown out of the window on the ground floor of the hotel, which TV stations said was of one of the militants.

The Taj Mahal hotel was the last battleground after three days of attacks by Islamist militants in India's financial capital that have killed at least 144 people.

Other than the gunmen holed up in the vast, 105-year-old Taj Mahal hotel, all the others have previously been killed or taken into custody.

India blamed the strike on "elements" from Pakistan, raising tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals. Pakistan said the two countries faced a common enemy and it would send a representative of its spy agency to share intelligence.

The militants' action has struck at the heart of the city of 18 million people, engine room of an economic boom that has made India a favourite emerging market.

It is also home to the "Bollywood" film industry, the epitome of glamour in a country still blighted by poverty.

An Indian state minister said one of the militants arrested was a Pakistani national and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned of "a cost" if India's neighbours did not take action to stop their territory being used to launch attacks.

But Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi struck a conciliatory note and promised full cooperation.

"Whoever has done this is neither your friend nor our friend," he told reporters in New Delhi. "We are not responsible for this, nor is it in our interest to get involved in something like this."

The attacks were carried out by a small army of young men armed with rifles and grenades, some of whom arrived by sea, who fanned out across Mumbai on Wednesday night to attack sites popular with tourists and business executives.

Authorities said 18 foreigners were among the 144 killed. At least 283 were wounded.

Three Germans, five Americans, one Australian, a Briton, one Canadian, two French, an Israeli, an Italian, a Japanese, a Singaporean and a Thai, were among the dead, according to various governments.

(Reporting by New Delhi and Mumbai bureaux; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Simon Denyer)

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