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So it happened that my girlfriend and I were in Mumbai just three weeks ago.
We stayed at the VolgaII hotel, near Leopold (a diner place where a lot of backpackers have their meals) and near the gateway of India. These places are heavily under fire.
Surprisingly when we were there we did not sense any fear or threat whatsoever.

Complete south Mumbai is under terrorist attacks. And it feels real strange to know that we’ve walked there just three weeks ago.

Here’s the Reuters India’s comment:

MUMBAI (Reuters) – At least 80 people were killed in attacks apparently aimed at tourists in India’s financial capital Mumbai on Wednesday night and television channels said Westerners were being held hostage at two five-star hotels.

At least 250 people were wounded, police said. Indian television channels reported the chief of Mumbai’s police anti-terrorist squad, Hemant Karkare, was among those killed.

Attackers targeted the Cafe Leopold, perhaps the most famous restaurant and hang-out for tourists in Mumbai, as well as hospitals and railway stations.

“I guess they were after foreigners, because they were asking for British or American passports,” said Rakesh Patel, a British witness who lives in Hong Kong and was staying at the Taj hotel on business. “They had bombs.”

“They came from the restaurant and took us up the stairs,” he told the NDTV news channel, smoke stains all over his face. “Young boys, maybe 20 years old, 25 years old. They had two guns.”

India has suffered a wave of bomb attacks in recent years. Most have been blamed on Islamist militants, although police have also arrested suspected Hindu extremists thought to be behind some of the attacks.

Police said targets included the luxury Taj and Oberoi hotels, with television stations showing the lobby of both hotels on fire and people being evacuated from the Oberoi with their hands on their heads.

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