28 November 2008

MUMBAI - Eyewitnesses described scenes of terror in the assault by Islamic militants in Mumbai, from bodies in pools of blood to hotel guests arming themselves with knives.

Caught up in the attack on India's financial centre, many said they hid in the dark for hours, waiting to be rescued and fearing the militants would kill them.

"We heard some gunshots. We barricaded the restaurant and we moved everybody into the kitchen," said Faisul Nagel, a South African security guard who was in the Taj Mahal hotel with colleagues when the assault began.

Using tables and refrigerators to block themselves inside, Nagel said they armed themselves with the only weapons they could find.

"We basically put the lights off in the restaurant just to create an element of surprise. And we armed ourselves with kitchen knives and meat cleavers," he told AFP by phone.

They ended up helping around 120 people escape, including a 90-year-old woman who was carried down 25 flights of stairs.

Paul Guest, a retired Australian judge, was found by armed soldiers in his room at the Taj Mahal. He describes the scene as he left the building as, "Outside in the foyer of this beautiful hotel, (it) was just like in a fog with all the smoke. There was blood all over the floor and bits of bodies."

An unknown number of people were trapped in the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi/Trident, five-star hotels that were among a dozen sites attacked by militants on Wednesday night.

It was a night of terror for many, who tried to keep silent to avoid attracting attention of the attackers. They feared leaving their rooms, with the sound of shooting all around.

"We've been waiting for hours and hours for the army to come and say we can go downstairs," one Western woman told AFP by phone late Thursday from inside the Oberoi/Trident.

"We have to keep silent. They could be looking for hostages," she said.

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