Is it a war on Mumbai?

Gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades targeted at least seven sites in Mumbai late on Nov. 26 night, opening fire indiscriminately on crowds at a major railway station, the Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels, the Jewish centre, a hospital and an up-market restaurant frequented by foreigners.

Some foreign tourists were reported to be among the dead. Witnesses said the gunmen were very young, like boys, wearing jeans and T-shirts had specifically chosen US and British citizens to take hostage.

The attacks are the worst in India's commercial capital since nearly 200 people were killed in a series of bombings in 2006.

A group calling itself the "Deccan Mujahedeen", previously unknown, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Maharashtra state’s Director General of Police A N Roy said around 100 people were killed in the precisely targeted assaults by small groups of gunmen armed with AK-47s and grenades that began around 10:30pm (1700 GMT). The latest causalities figure is at least 160 people were killed and more than 300 were wounded.

Hemant Karkare, chief of Mumbai police's anti-terrorism squad, was among the fatalities at the Hotel Oberoi, in addition, 11 other police were killed.

The death and destruction in Mumbai has upset and unsettled local Indians as well as foreigners about the safety in India's biggest city.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the perpetrators of coordinated attacks on the financial capital Mumbai were likely based outside the country. He said he will tell "neighbors" that the use of their territory for launching terrorist attacks will not be tolerated.

For years, India blamed Pakistan's intelligence services for terror attacks. If a link between the two can be proved, then the tension between the India and its neighbor will increase sharply and deep into a crisis.

Some analysis refer as local attacks with a global impact and assuming that the attackers are militant groups operating in India, possibly with some level of outside support from Pakistan and were a carefully planned, well-executed attack.

Since the attacks, a number of people have been arrested, but the Indian authorities have still released no information about the identity or the background of the attackers.