WASHINGTON (AFP)--U.S. administration officials Thursday anxiously monitored a terrorist siege underway in Mumbai, where attacks across the city left more than 125 dead and Islamist gunmen reportedly held foreign hostages in luxury hotels.
Three US nationals were among those wounded in the attacks in Mumbai, a State Department spokesman said. But he said there were no confirmed reports of Americans held hostage or killed.
"The information we do have is that three Americans have been injured," spokesman Rob McInturff told AFP. Details about the nature of their injuries weren't yet available.
"No American deaths at this point. But the information is coming fast and furious," he said.
"In addition to the president's call to the Indian prime minister, National Security Council, State Department, counterterrorism, and intelligence community officials gathered again this morning to review the situation and actions that are underway and can be taken to address the series of terrorist attacks," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
Perino said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was at the Camp David presidential retreat for Thanksgiving "and she has been providing updates to President Bush."
"The FBI legal attache office in New Delhi is working with the State Department's Regional Security Officer team and monitoring the situation closely. The RSO teams have visited hospitals and hotels to locate and identify any injured U.S. citizens," she added. "U.S. officials will continue to cooperate and work together with Indian officials to focus on this ongoing situation."
Bush earlier had called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convey his sympathy for the victims of the "despicable" attacks and offer U.S. help.
"President Bush spoke this morning by telephone with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to express condolences to the victims of the terror attacks in Mumbai, India, and solidarity with the people of India," Perino said earlier.
"The president offered support and assistance to the government of India as it works to restore order, provide safety to its people and comfort to the victims and their families, and investigate these despicable acts," she said.
In Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment center, troops were conducting floor-by-floor sweeps of the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi/Trident hotels, nearly 24 hours after gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenades stormed the buildings, local police said.
Gunfire and blasts continued to be heard from both hotels, where scores of guests remained trapped in their rooms - too terrified to move.
According to hospital sources quoted by the Press Trust of India, nine foreign nationals were among the dead - including a Japanese businessman, an Australian, a Briton, a German and an Italian.
More than 300 people were reported wounded in the attacks which have been claimed by a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen.
Americans, French, Israelis and Canadians were said to be among those held or trapped.
There was a separate hostage situation at an office-residential complex, housing a Jewish center where a rabbi and his family were being held by gunmen.
The Israeli embassy in New Delhi said ten to 20 of its nationals were being held hostage.
A South African Foreign Ministry spokesman said seven crew members of South African Airways (SAA) were trapped in a Mumbai hotel.
Guests who escaped the hotels recounted how the gunmen had specifically tried to round up U.S. and British citizens.
"They told everybody to stop and put their hands up and asked if there were any British or Americans," Alex Chamberlain, a British guest at the Oberoi/Trident hotel, said after fleeing his captors via a fire escape.
The White House on Wednesday convened a meeting of top intelligence and counter-terrorism officials as reports from India said 200 people were believed trapped in one hotel alone.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama condemned the attacks and said the United States must work to strengthen ties with India and other nations to "root out and destroy terrorist networks."
"These coordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave and urgent threat of terrorism," Obama's chief national security spokesperson, Brooke Anderson, said in a statement.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 27, 2008 17:34 ET (22:34 GMT)

Publié le 27 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones