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Information on the group claiming responsibility: linkCNN wrote:MUMBAI, India (CNN) -- Indian police are still battling to release hostages the morning after gunmen carried out brazen attacks across southern Mumbai, killing more than 100 people and taking hostages in multiple locations.
A standoff continued at the Oberoi Hotel, where about 100 members of a specialized unit of the Indian police undertook an operation to rescue four to five foreigners hostages on the 19th floor.
CNN producer Phil O'Sullivan reported a "very loud explosion came from right deep in the hotel."
At the nearby Taj Mahal hotel, police had rescued most of the hostages and evacuated dozens of guests.
As concerned family members stood outside, medics took stretchers into the hotel and brought out bodies covered in white sheets. Police were going floor to floor to flush out gunmen. About five of them were believed to be holed up in the Taj; another three in Oberoi, Maharashtra state officials said.
The death toll from the series of coordinated attacks was at 101, including at least six foreigners, by Thursday afternoon authorities said. The Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed one of its citizens had been killed. The nationalities of the others were still being checked.
Another 314 people were wounded in the attacks, including seven British and two Australian citizens.
In addition, at least nine gunmen were killed in fighting with police.
Also among the dead was Hemant Karkare, the chief of the Mumbai police's anti-terror squad, and as many as 11 police officers.
An American woman who was still inside the Taj with her husband told CNN by phone Thursday that television feeds into the room have stopped and she did not know what was going on.
"We have water and we're hunkered down and patient and ready to wait it out," she said. "We're OK. Last night was a different story, but today we're OK.
"We have water and we're hunkered down and patient and ready to wait it out," she said. "We're OK. Last night was a different story, but today we're OK.
Police said gunmen fired indiscriminately from the building. Stray bullets killed a couple in their home and a 16-year-old boy who stepped outside, police said.
Two women and an infant were seen escaping from the building but three to four residents remained captive inside, said Johny Joseph, the state's chief secretary.
Police surrounded the building and exchanged gunfire in which one of the gunmen reportedly was shot, CNN's sister station CNN-IBN said.
A standoff at a fourth location -- the Cama Hospital for women and infants -- appeared to have been resolved by Thursday morning, CNN-IBN reported. It was not immediately known whether gunmen at the hospital fled or were killed.
Authorities locked down Mumbai and asked residents to stay inside. The stock market in the city -- the financial hub of India -- was closed, as were schools and colleges. The city is also home to Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry.
Government officials said the attacks caught them completely unaware, with no intelligence chatter indicating that such a coordinated assault was planned.
Police say the attackers came by boats to the waterfront near the Gateway of India monument.
Of the nine suspects police arrested in connection with the attacks, seven are fishermen. Police also found a boat loaded with explosives near the Taj, also located on the waterfront.
"Those men were wearing jackets and they carried big big bags," one fisherman told CNN-IBN.
Said another: "We asked, 'Where are you coming from?' They said, 'Go do your work.'"
The gunmen then hijacked cars -- including a police van -- and broke up in at least three groups to carry out the attacks, police said.
One group headed toward the Cafe Leopold, a popular hangout for Western tourists, firing indiscriminately at passers-by on the street. They then opened fire and lobbed grenades at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, a Victorian building.
As police rushed to the scene of the attacks, gunmen attacked the Cama Hospital.
Two other groups attacked the two luxury hotels frequented by Westerners.
Bhushan Gagrani, a spokesman for Maharashtra, said no one had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
But several Indian news outlets reported receiving e-mails from a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen that claimed responsibility for the attacks. CNN was not able to verify the reports.
A man told local television that he was in the Oberoi around 10 p.m. when gunmen entered the lobby and began rounding up guests, asking for anyone with a U.S. or British passport and taking hostage about 15 of them.
Reaction from the United Nations, United States and United Kingdom was swift as world leaders joined in condemning the attacks. Read more on the international reaction
India has suffered a number of attacks in recent years, including a string of bombs that ripped through packed Mumbai commuter trains and platforms during rush hour in July 2006. About 209 people were killed in that attack.
Last July, a series of synchronized bomb blasts in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad left 49 dead and more than 100 wounded, police said.
International reaction [EDIT: well... Western reaction, at least]: link