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Shivraj Patil Gone

The Union Home Minister of India, Shivraj Patil, has resigned a day after the Mumbai attacks came to an end. Patil submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which was later accepted by the President of India. It was the first political reverberation that was felt in the UPA-led government of India.

Finance Minister of India P. Chidambaram has been appointed the successor of Patil. Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh would be handling the finance ministry now. Chidambaram has earlier served in internal security under the administration of Rajiv Gandhi in late 1980s. On Sunday, an all-party meeting was also convened by the Prime Minister to discuss the Mumbai attacks and evolve a consensus within all political parties on how to combat terror.

Shivraj Patil was already facing stiff criticism from Indian media and India's main political opposition party Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). The key allies such as Rashtriya Janata Dal of ruling the Indian National Congress had already begun to raise voices for the home minister's resignation. The inefficiency of India's security and intelligence agencies to protect the people against a series of terror attacks in the past six months was one reason for Patil's resignation.

 

 

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Mumbai sieges come to an end

Police forces in India have ended the hostage sieges which followed the Mumbai attacks, which began on Wednesday in Mumbai, the financial capital of India.

It ended when commandos finally caught up with a lone gunman, who had played a cat-and-mouse game in the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, nearly 56 hours after the attacks began.

According to Indian television and radio, 155 people have been killed and 327 others wounded. Local media have described the attacks as "India's 9/11." CNN is reporting over 160 dead and 370 injured. Eleven gunmen killed are not counted in these totals.

Police say that they are in control of both the Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels. Nearly 300 people have been freed.

The siege of Nariman House, a outreach post of the orthodox-Jewish sect Chabad-Lubavitch, ended when at least eight Black Cats commandos entered the building by rope from a helicopter. No hostages or attackers survived the assault, though details are still unclear.

"These people were very, very familiar with the hotel layouts and it appears they had carried out a survey before," said an unidentified commander of MARCOS, India's elite marine commandos. The commandos were hampered because they feared injuring hotel guests if they used overwhelming force.

"Bodies were strewn all over the place, and there was blood everywhere," he said, suggesting the death toll may rise further.

The commander also noted that his unit found a backpack belonging to one of the gunmen, inside they found dried fruit, 400 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, four grenades, Indian rupees and American dollars, and seven credit cards from some of the world’s leading banks and a national ID card for the island nation of Mauritius.

"Once the bodies are collected, the number of deaths might go up to 200," said India's Minister of Home Affairs Sri Prakash Jaiswal.

"We came up against highly motivated terrorists," said Vice-Admiral J.S. Bedi, whose commandos led the assault against the militants.

India's foreign minster, Pranab Mukherjee, said, "Preliminary evidence indicates that elements with links to Pakistan are involved," stirring a diplomatic row between India and Pakistan. Observers have said that the attacks bear the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed, both of which are considered to be based in Pakistan and responsible for previous attacks on India.

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Latest update Mumbai attacks

The November 2008 Mumbai attacks or the 11/26, 11/27, and 11/28 terrorist attacks were a series of ten terrorist attacks that occurred across Mumbai (Bombay), India's financial capital and largest city, on November 26, 2008.

At least 125 people including at least six foreign nationals have been confirmed dead, and at least 327 have been injured. All except one of the attacks took place in South Mumbai; at the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station; at two five-star hotels: the Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point, and Taj Mahal Palace & Tower near the Gateway of India; at the Leopold Café, a popular tourist restaurant in Colaba; at the Cama Hospital; at the Orthodox Jewish-owned Mumbai Chabad House; and at the Mumbai Police Headquarters where at least three high-level officers, including chief of the Anti Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra, were killed by gunfire. The tenth incident involved a taxi blast at Vile Parle near the airport but it is uncertain whether this is connected with the South Mumbai attacks.

Between fifty and sixty terrorists have been involved in the attacks.

After a day of gunfire and explosions at the hotels, things have quieted down as of the early morning of 28 November. The fires are out and soldiers have been leading hostages and holed-up guests to safety and removing bodies of those killed in the attacks. Militants are still believed to be hidden in Chabad House, where three blasts were heard overnight.Both hotels have been cleared according to the Army, and the terrorists have been flushed out. Snipers are taking position at Chabad/Nariman House. Israeli and Italian authorities said their nationals were still being held hostage, but police appeared to be gaining the upper hand.NSG Commandos have been air dropped on Nariman House and the whole area is secured to flush out the terrorists.

A previously unknown organization identifying itself as the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility by email sent to news organizations. Due to the apparent targeting of Britons, Americans, and Jews, the number of militants involved, the type of equipment they used, and the pattern of co-ordinated attacks, several reporters and media analysts speculate that non-Indian Islamic terrorists may have been responsible. In 28 November, a Hindu newspaper reported that some of the terrorists are members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist group. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the attacks probably had “external linkages,” believing that the attack could not have occurred without help. The Indian Mujahideen terrorist group threatened in September 2008 to carry out bombings on sites in Mumbai. According to some news reports, a terrorist holding hostages at the Oberoi told an Indian TV channel that they wanted all 'Mujahideen' in Indian prisons released before they released their hostages. He also indicated that there were seven terrorists holding hostages at that location. Other reports indicate that this demand was made through a hostage at the Mumbai Chabad House, in a call to the Israeli consulate in New Delhi.

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